


Sonic: Revival- Immortal

by ToaArcan



Series: Sonic: Revival [6]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic)
Genre: Emerl is still a lady, F/M, Fiona needs hugs, Nic is a dodgy parent, Silver is still the world's dumbest psychic, Things get violent in chapter 4, tags will be updated as the story goes on, traumatic memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-07-29 12:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20082532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToaArcan/pseuds/ToaArcan
Summary: With the dirt on Mogul in-hand, the Freedom Fighters prepare a plan to take down their immortal foe and claim a fourth Chaos Emerald.However, Silver's own connection to the mammoth could prove a spanner in the works, and Tails' power issues are reaching their peak.





	1. Best Laid Plans

** Sonic: Revival- Immortal **

**  
** Chapter 1 of 6: Best Laid Plans  
  
  
Shocks of red and yellow lightning clashed against each other on the training floor, as Tails and Emerl stood off. The fox’s brows knitted together, strain visible on his face, fists tightening as he fought to contain the power flowing through his body.  
  
Across from him, Emerl stood, her posture significantly more relaxed, stance loose. She made manipulating Chaos look effortless, though with the three Emeralds burning inside her chest, it only made sense to Tails. That didn’t stop it being frustrating, though, to see someone so easily control the same power that had become his burden.  
  
He lunged forward, thrusting his hand out and launching another violent blast, splitting the air as it tore toward Emerl.   
  
  
Last time they’d sparred, Tails had caught her off-guard, and defeated her. Whatever this rage-induced Chaos power was, it was stronger than her, something that both irritated and motivated Emerl. She would get stronger, but for now she had more pressing concerns, chiefly helping her friend master his abilities once more.  
  
She launched herself to the side, avoiding the beam, and closed the gap between the pair of them. A risky play, given his extra two limbs, but better than staying at range, where he could blast her with abandon.  
  
As she rushed him, Tails lashed his namesakes at her, spinning on the spot to batter her with them, but as they made contact, they stopped dead.   
  
  
Tails froze as he realised why. Emerl had copied Fiona’s new arms, and her free hand blasted him in the chest with the force of his own attack, knocking him down. After a few seconds, his aura faded, and he let out a sigh, his muscles finally relaxing.  
  
“That should be enough for today,” He said, looking up the Gizoid. She nodded, her own energies dropping back to their normal levels, her hands reverting to their normal shape before she offered one to the fox, helping him stand.  
  
“You’re doing better,” She tried to smile, not an easy task with just eyes, but the point seemed to get itself across.  
  
“Am I? Still feels like I’m running out of control…” He sighed, only to get clapped on the back by her mechanical friend.  
  
“Sure! You didn’t break anything this time, and you managed to turn it off by yourself. This stuff isn’t easy to get the hang of, but you’re getting there. Honest,” Emerl pressed. Tails managed a small smile, and nodded slightly.  
  
“Yeah, I guess.”  
  
  
***  
  
Once again, Sally found herself meeting with Geoffrey in the prison. This time, both Sonic and Bunnie flanked her, and she folded her arms behind her back as she confronted the treacherous skunk.  
  
“Elias will be back on the throne soon, Geoffrey. Now, tell me what you know,” She demanded. The skunk smirked as he stood up, glancing at the three Freedom Fighters, before focusing on Sally herself.  
  
“I’m somewhat disappointed that you didn’t take it for yourself, Princess, but very well. I’ll spill,” He said, walking up to the barrier. “Mogul might still be intent on remaining inactive until Sonic croaks, but that doesn’t mean he’s through with finding ways to try and hurry that along indirectly. He said as much himself when he allowed me to revive Naugus. And if colluding and conspiring with me to instigate Naugus’ return and takeover of this city isn’t enough for you… his casino serves as a haven for your foes, past and present. Some that escaped from here with him, some that joined since, and even a few former minions of the Robotniks, mechanical and organic alike. Is that enough for you?”  
  
“That should cover it, Geoffrey,” Sally replied, nodding slowly.  
  
“Now, was that so hard, Geoff?” Sonic grinned, folding his arms smugly. “I mean, you’re gonna get some new neighbours out of this, so if anything, we’re doing you a favour.”  
  
  
The skunk glared at his once-rival, prompting a shrug and a barely-contained laugh as the trio turned and left, walking out of the building.  
  
“Well, that makes this a lot simpler,” Sally mused, taking the lead.   
  
“Yeah, matches mostly with what Fi told us before,” Bunnie agreed.   
  
“I might be missing something here, but doesn’t that make it harder?” Sonic frowned. “He’s not doing anything actively, so we’re kinda going to have to kick the door in and take the first attack ourselves.”  
  
“Yes, exactly,” Sally nodded. “As far as dealing with our more powerful foes, just breaking in and taking him down is a rather easy option. We don’t need to worry about infiltration, or discrediting him, we have evidence from three different sources that will be more than enough to put him away again. It’s just a matter of actually taking him down.”  
  
“Oh, right… works for me, I guess!” He grinned. “We should decide who’s going, right?”  
  
“Yes, we should.”  
  
***  
  
Soon enough, the Freedom Fighters reconvened at their base, Fiona, Nic, and Shard joining the table. As Sally explained the plan, a few hands raised to volunteer themselves for the mission, before Tails spoke up.  
  
“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy,” He said grimly, tenting his fingers as he leaned on the table. “While all of the pieces are certainly there, it’s worth noting that Mogul is significantly more powerful than any of our other problems, and his patrons are an unknown quantity. We can’t count on everyone in our way being just Drago-tier annoyances, and the last thing we need is a brawl breaking out that stops us reaching Mogul before he has time to prepare. He’s a Chaos Mage, and the more warning he has, the more opportunity he has to buff himself up with magic and Chaos powers that we’re not prepared to handle.”  
  
“You raise a good point…” Sally frowned, brow furrowing. “We need a means of either expediating our entry, or keeping Mogul distracted while we deal with the grunts…”  
  
“Um, why don’t Nic and I handle that?” Fiona asked, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began. “We can go in, pretend Nic’s not employed by you, and I’m still a bad guy, and talk business with him while the heavy-hitters do the whole “kick the door in” part.”  
  
“Won’t Mogul know that you worked with us recently?” Emerl pointed out.  
  
“Only against a mutual enemy,” Nic shrugged. “If he asks, we’ll say that I was there to ensure Fiona got treatment, and then busted her out afterwards. Not unbelievable.”  
  
  
Sally bit her lip for a moment, before looking over at the two.  
  
“I would’ve preferred your first missions with us to be something less… weighty. But… we don’t have a lot of options, and you are right that it should work… So… alright, we’ll go with that,” She nodded after a while, prompting a grin from the vixen.  
  
“Thanks, Sally,” She leaned back into her chair with a satisfied smile.   
  
“Well, that answers that question,” Antoine said. “Who are you thinking will be part of the main team?”  
  
“Currently, Sonic, Bunnie, Tails, Rotor, Amy, and Emerl,” Sally replied. “However, if any of the rest of you would like to volunteer, I’m alright with that.”  
  
“I’ll go,” Shard spoke up, raising his hand.  
  
“Are you sure?” Rotor asked. “Your new body is far from ready, and Mogul’s a huge mountain, given your… condition. This won’t be a short fight.”  
  
“I’m not going to let that stop me from helping,” The robot shook his head. “I know how to pace myself, I’ll be fine.”  
  
“Well, as long as you’re sure… but be careful,” Sally sighed. “Everyone else okay with this composition?”  
  
“Works for me, Sal,” Sonic grinned, prompting a few more agreements.  
  
“Yeah, I guess…” Tails mumbled quietly, prompting Emerl to nudge his shoulder.  
  
“You’ve got this, promise,” She beamed, and he nodded slightly.  
  
  
“Then it’s settled. You set off tomorrow morning.”  
  
***  
  
As the meeting broke up, and the team began to head their separate ways, Fiona lingered behind, approaching Sonic and Sally as they sat at the table, evidently reviewing the meeting with Nicole.  
  
“Um…” She cleared her throat, getting their attention. “Sonic… can I ask you about something?”  
  
“What is it, Fi?” He looked up at her, eyebrow raising.  
  
“I… I wanna spar with you, in the lab. I know the kind of thing these arms can withstand, but I still have no idea how I’m gonna fight _him_, so I’d like to get a feel for the sort of things he might pull when I get a shot at him,” She replied.  
  
“I’m… not sure that’s a good idea, Fiona,” Sally cut in. “At least at this stage in your recovery. The last thing you need is Sonic triggering something by accident.”  
  
“But what if he comes back!?” She protested, clenching her fists. “It’s no good me having these things if I can’t actually use them to protect myself from him!”  
  
“I see where you’re coming from, Fi, but I think Sal’s right,” Sonic sighed. “I’ll help, but let’s make sure you’re doing okay before we start, okay?”  
  
“I… okay.” She mumbled, looking down, before turning and leaving the room.  
  
  
“You know she made a really good point there, Sal. She’s got to be able to defend herself,” Sonic said, as the door closed behind Fiona.  
  
“I know. And I would’ve supported it if I believed that was all she wanted to learn to do,” Sally replied. “But she mentioned ‘getting a shot at him’. It’s not entirely about defending herself…”  
  
“It’s about revenge,” Sonic realised. “You think she’d go after him if she was confident that she’d win?”  
  
  
“I think she’d try. And I worry about what could happen if she’s not as ready as she thinks she is,” Sally shook her head. “You might accidentally cause her to freeze up or something, but we both know he’ll intentionally try to trigger her.”  
  
“And that’d get ugly, fast,” He frowned. “Yeah, we’d best take it slow on that front.”  
  
“Don’t worry about protecting her,” Nicole spoke up. “If she’s in the city, I’ve got that covered. Outside it, Emerl can handle it. Though given the overwhelming force she presented last time, I find it unlikely that Scourge will trouble us for a while. We’ll have to be vigilant, but until we can be sure that Fiona won’t use any training we give her as a means to go after him… it’s the best we can do.”  
  
  
***  
  
Outside the room, Fiona groaned as she slumped against the wall. Nic glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow.  
  
“Well?”  
  
“They said no.”   
  
“Good,” The wolf-weasel said. Fiona blinked looking up at her. “I told you it was a bad idea.”  
  
“He took my arms, Nic. He beat me and burned me and cut me and made me feel like it was my fault, he tried to kill you, he got in here without anyone being able to stop him, and if Emerl hadn’t been as fast as she was he might’ve killed me too,” She growled, eyes starting to well up. “He has to pay.”  
  
“And he will. I promise. But you’re in no condition to do it now,” Nic wrapped her arms around Fiona’s shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug. “He’ll kill you, Ember. If you’re not as ready as you think you are, he’ll kill you… and I can’t let you walk into that. I can’t lose you again…”  
  
“I know, Nic…” The vixen returned the gesture, leaning into Nic’s shoulder. “I just… want to be able to walk around without being afraid that he’s going to show up and drag me off… I don’t want to have to rely on Nicole and Emerl to keep me safe…”  
  
As she spoke, she remembered what Rotor had said the other day at the lab… Emerl had been able to replicate Scourge’s abilities. That’s how they’d tested her new hands, and made sure they’d be able to handle his power. And the Gizoid always seemed like she was up for a fight.  
  
If Sonic wouldn’t help her, maybe Emerl would.  
  
***  
  
Silver landed in Casino Night, raising his arm to shield his eyes from the glare of the lights. He walked along the glitzy street, heading for the largest of the buildings. Odds were, the largest of them was Mogul’s headquarters.  
  
Learning that his mentor from the future was one of the Freedom Fighters’ most powerful foes in this time period had been something of a shock to the young hedgehog, though given Edmund’s own warnings about the future Mogul, it wasn’t too huge a shock. Still, the mammoth had apparently retired, and if there was anyone Silver could turn to now, it would be him. Perhaps he would even have a Time Stone that he could use.  
  
  
Silver walked into the Casino, immediately coming face to face with a pair of old, slightly rusty robots, grey and silver in colour, with domed heads and narrow red visors. SWATbots, if memory served correctly.  
  
“`State your name and purpose.`” The two droids announced in unison, their voices a harsh, grating monotone.  
  
“Silver the Hedgehog. I’m here to see your boss,” He replied. He wasn’t expecting them to let him in, but starting a fight didn’t seem like the wisest idea, and it couldn’t hurt to try, could it?  
  
  
The two robots paused for a second, then stepped aside, opening the doors.  
  
“`You are on the list.`”  
  
  
Silver stared for a moment, frowning slightly. Why was he ‘on the list?’ Was Mogul somehow aware of his presence? Some kind of time travel confusion that he wasn’t aware of? After all, the future Mogul was already adept with the Time Stones, so perhaps one of his experiments with them had led to this?  
  
Still, if it got him in without a fracas, he wouldn’t question it too much.  
  
  
He walked through the doors, stepping into the brightly-lit inside of the building. Immediately, loud music assaulted his ears, but he shook his head, walking through the main floor of the casino without paying his surroundings much mind. He couldn’t afford to be distracted now.  
  
  
Further robot guards did little to stop him, most of them opening doors for him, and he soon found himself escorted up the stairs and into the office of Mammoth Mogul.  
  
  
“Come in, Mr. Hedgehog. Have a seat,” The ancient mage’s voice rumbled. He sat behind his desk, in a chair large enough that it must’ve been custom-made, wearing a white suit, a glint of grey crystal visible inside his shirt. His hands clasped, arms resting on the oak desktop. He gave the hedgehog a welcoming smile as he entered, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ve been expecting you.”  
  
“You have?” Silver asked, closing the door behind himself, before he walked over to sit in front of the desk.  
  
“Yes, of course. I’m sure that confuses you, but I’ll explain. I believe it may hold the answer to your problem too,” Mogul replied. “But first… tell me of the future.”  
  
“You know?” He balked. This was getting a little too spooky for his tastes.  
  
“I do. Like I said, I will explain, but first…”  
  
“Right, the future, well…” He swallowed hard. “It’s… everything is destroyed. Something happened, at around this date in history, that caused the destruction of much of Mobius. What few records we have indicated that either it happened at the hands of a member of the Knothole Freedom Fighters who had turned against their allies, or that the resultant collapse of the team rendered them unable to stop the true cause. We determined that the recent fiasco with Mecha Sally was the probable event, and I was sent back to help prevent it.”  
  
“And you were sent back, of course, by future self,” Mogul finished, and Silver’s eyes widened, prompting a quiet chuckle from him. He opened a drawer in his desk, pulling out a small piece of paper that distinctly resembled the instructions he had received from the future Mogul. “Five months ago, I received a rather interesting gift. A glowing purple stone, not dissimilar to a Chaos Emerald, and a letter, in my own hand. It explained that the rock was, in fact, one of the mythical Time Stones, and that my future self had sent it back with the letter as part of a plan to save the future from the destroyers that threaten it. He assured me that his apprentice- you, of course- would be there to help with this endeavour.”  
  
“Oh, right! Of course, sir!” Silver let out a sigh of relief. It had all been a plan on the part of his future mentor, that was why the present Mogul knew of him. He couldn’t be sure of how much he could trust the younger mammoth, but it was better than nothing. At worst, an alliance of convenience with a former supervillain would make the problem easier to handle. And even better, he had sent another of the Time Stones back, clearly a means for him to return to his own time when it was done. The first stone must’ve deactivated because he tried to use it before his job was truly over, and evidently his mission ran deeper than previously thought. “So, do you have a plan?”  
  
“Somewhat, yes. I don’t entirely agree with my future counterpart’s methodology, but adaptations can be made. Either way… it seems I’ll have to come out of retirement early…” He almost seemed disappointed. “I had intended to wait for Sonic and his ilk to become too old and weak to interfere- they were always too small-minded to understand the necessity of my goals- but from this warning, it has become apparent that leaving Mobius to them will only result in disaster for all of us within their lifetimes. Perhaps unsurprising, given their unwillingness to do what is necessary when it comes to removing their opponents from the board, though I suppose I can’t really complain, given the amount I’ve benefited from it. Nevertheless… it is clear that, if we are to survive this… I will be needed.”  
  
“Needed for what?” Silver asked, raising an eyebrow. Something about this speech didn’t sit right with him. Not knowing what this looming threat was, nor what the Moguls had planned to do about it, certainly wasn’t helping.  
  
“Silver, you and I have much work to do. If we are to save this world, then all obstacles must be removed… That’s why your mentor sent you to me. No matter what I attempt, the Knothole Freedom Fighters will attempt to stop me… but you are powerful enough to defeat their best. Waiting until Sonic is gone will be far too slow… but you can stop him. And you shall.” Mogul replied, grinning.  
  
“Uh, sir, I don’t think that’s what my mentor intended you to take away from this!” Silver tried to interrupt. He should’ve known it was too good to be true. This Mogul was still evil. He stood up, power starting to flare around his hands.  
  
“A pity, then, that he trusted my judgement more than he trusted yours,” Mogul sighed, snapping his fingers. Silver opened his mouth to respond, but his words died in his throat as pain lanced through his forehead. He let out a startled, strangled yelp, doubling up as the cyan glow around his fingers faded away, and he fell to his knees.  
  
“I will send you home, Silver…” Mogul placed the purple Time Stone on the desk, next to the letter it had arrived with, eyes glowing green as he sifted through the hedgehog’s mind, reading his memories of the past few weeks. His battles with Naugus, with Mecha Sally, and with Scourge, and his new comrades and allies. “But first… you will eliminate Sonic for me. Once he is out of my way, the great work can begin…”  
  
  
Silver rose stiffly, eyes shining the same green as the diamond-shaped mark on his forehead. Satisfied with the results, Mogul glanced down at the letter, reading the last line again. The final warning from his future self.  
  
_Beware the Ashen King._


	2. Infiltration Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tails has another chat with his father, before the team sets off for Casino Night. Fiona and Nic are ready to play their part, but Silver's presence may prove to be their undoing...

** Sonic: Revival- Immortal  
**

**Chapter 2 of 6: Infiltration Complications**  
  
  
With the plan settled, the Freedom Fighters returned to their work, and the day passed without further incident.   
  
As midnight drew near, Tails headed home. Doing so had been awkward since his argument with his parents, and he’d been staying out later and later. But with their mission set to launch early the next morning, he recognised that he’d need to get a good night’s rest beforehand. He’d put up with an awkward conversation if it meant he wasn’t tired when potentially getting into a brawl with Mogul.   
  
Not that he’d have an easy time sleeping anyway.  
  
It wasn’t just that Mogul’s power was overwhelming, none of them, not even Emerl, wielding a full half of a Super form’s might, would be capable of fighting him one-on-one. But during the ancient mage’s last set of major plans, he had been targeted in one way or another. First, he’d abducted him while in his Turbo form- a level of power that Tails was no longer confident in his ability to control- and used his energy to revitalise himself after being imprisoned for a long while. Then, he had played a hand in ADAM becoming aware of Tails’ role at the centre of the Great Harmony prophecy, resulting in him again being kidnapped and his power used for the villain’s own ends.   
  
Most recently, Mogul had taken control of his mind and body, along with Mina and Mighty, and not only forced them to attack Sonic, but also made them attempt suicide to force Sonic and Ash to give him New Mobotropolis’ Chaos Emerald and allow him, and every other villain they had captured, to escape.   
  
More than any other opponent, the prospect of facing Mammoth Mogul again terrified him. He knew his uncle Merlin had removed the magical mark from his forehead, that enabled the sorcerer’s control of his mind, and there was very little chance of it happening again, but the reality of what he had been made to do had never really left him. The Xorda could drop another Quantum Dial out of the sky tomorrow and he’d be more up for that battle than he would be for boarding the plane and heading to Casino Night.  
  
Though, on the plus side, he wasn’t particularly worried about the consequences of his Chaos issues, at least where Mogul was concerned.  
  
  
Tails opened the door to his home, closing and locking it behind him, and prepared to head up to his room, when his father emerged from the living room, looking rather tired already.  
  
“Son? Can we talk for a moment?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper. Tails sighed quietly, and nodded.  
  
“What about?”  
  
“You’ve… been avoiding us,” Amadeus said.   
  
“A little bit, I guess…”   
  
“Can you tell me why?” The elder fox pushed.  
  
“I’m… finding it a little difficult to reconcile with the fact that my mother gave power over my home and everyone in it to a man that tried to kill me, to kill every Robian, and instigated the entire Great War,” Tails frowned. “I… don’t think that’s unreasonable.”  
  
“I understand, and I agree, but… what happened wasn’t easy for her, either. Rosemary took the position of Councillor because she wanted to represent the will of the people, and that was what they wanted. She didn’t want to give Naugus power, but she felt obligated to follow the desires of those that elected her,” He replied.  
  
“Naugus having the ability to influence others was well-known, getting a mob on his side despite his past actions should’ve been a clear red flag that he using that ability,” Tails retorted. “Added, Mom was the one that allowed him to try and make his case at all. _Hamlin_ got up to fight Naugus, and Mom stopped him and everyone else from aiding Sonic. If Mom can’t recognise what our enemies are capable of, then she shouldn’t be involved in deciding what to do about them.”  
  
“Son-”  
  
“I’m going to fight Mammoth Mogul tomorrow morning. If I told Mom, would she even know who I was talking about? What we’re up against, facing him? What he’s done, to me, and to everyone else? Or would she welcome him in if he turned up tomorrow with nothing but a hollow apology and a promise to be good?”  
  
“Tails, that’s not entirely fair,” Amadeus started, but the younger fox shook his head.  
  
“Let me put it like this: If you were still in the war, and your superior was ignoring or unaware of important intel, and their actions based on that lack of knowledge were jeopardising your unit, and the people you were protecting, would you support them?”  
  
“I would inform them of the true danger posed,” Amadeus’ brow furrowed, uncertainty etching itself on his face.  
  
“And if they refused to listen? Would you continue to follow their command? Would you consider them _fit to lead?_”   
  
“I… I wouldn’t…” He admitted, face falling. “But… I know the circumstances are somewhat different, but… haven’t you welcomed a traitor and a mercenary into your ranks?”  
  
  
Tails’ fingers tensed, and he felt the banister he’d been holding creak warningly under his grip. He saw his father flinch a little. He felt guilty about that, but his anger didn’t abate.  
  
“I’m not talking about your personal relation to Miss Fox, Tails. If you’ve forgiven the things she did to you, then that’s entirely your decision. But putting her back on the team, and arming her with weapons intended to allow her to defend herself against someone you say is a stronger and faster version of Sonic… I’m not sure if that’s wise...”  
  
“Fiona isn’t a bad person, Dad. Scourge manipulated her and imposed his ideology on her, and he psychologically and physically abused her to convince her that it was correct. Before that, Fiona was a genuine member of the team, and, if we can help her heal, I believe that she can be again,” Tails frowned. “But even then, Fiona’s crimes aren’t comparable to Naugus. The position she intends to hold is nowhere near as dangerous for everyone else as Naugus. The power she has, and the things she could do with it, are far lesser than Naugus’. They aren’t comparable.”  
  
“I… okay, I will trust your judgement,” Amadeus sighed, and Tails began to ascend the stairs. “Tails, wait!”  
  
  
The younger fox stopped, looking over his shoulder.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“Are your… powers still acting up?” He asked, and Tails froze.   
  
“How could you tell?”  
  
“Your eyes are glowing red,” Amadeus replied. “I don’t know what that means, but… I remember Merlin having something similar happen when he was your age.”  
  
“I… Yeah. They’ve been difficult to control lately. I’m doing what I can about it, but the process is slow, and… with the things that have happened lately- Naugus, Mecha Sally, Scourge, the prospect of facing Mogul tomorrow, among other things… it’s not making it easy,” Tails admitted, as his eyes returned to their normal colour.   
  
“I see…” Amadeus sighed, looking down. “Is there anything I can do? To help, I mean?”  
  
“I… don’t think so. I just have to get it under control, and hope things start to calm down…” He replied.  
  
“I wish Merlin were here,” Amadeus confessed, giving his son a helpless look. “I don’t know how to deal with this… arcane stuff. I’m sorry…”  
  
“It’s… it’s alright, Dad. You’re doing your best,” Tails managed a smile.  
  
“I’m not sure that I am, but I’ll certainly try,” He straightened slightly. “Anyway, if you’ve got a mission tomorrow, I shan’t keep you any longer.”  
  
“Thanks, Dad. Goodnight.”  
  
“Goodnight,” Amadeus replied. “I love you, son.”  
  
“Love you too, Dad,” Tails turned, walking the rest of the way up the stairs.  
  
***  
  
The following morning, the team that had been selected assembled at the airport,   
  
“How exactly are we going to get there?” Nic asked. “We won’t all fit in the Tornado.”  
  
“Sure can’t teleport, I don’t even know where it is we’re supposed to be going,” Emerl shrugged.  
  
“And I… don’t have my Warp Ring anymore,” Fiona added.  
  
“If Amy, Fiona, and Nic squeeze into the plane and Sonic runs, almost everyone else can fly, though that’d probably burn a lot of my power just getting there,” Shard suggested.  
  
“We could always put you in the cargo hold,” The Gizoid nudged him.  
  
“Funny,” He managed to avoid grinning.  
  
  
“We’ll be taking the Freedom Fighter Special,” Sonic replied. “More people can fit in it, and flies pretty darn fast, so we’ll get there in no time.”  
  
“How fast are we talking here?” Nic raised an eyebrow. If _Sonic_ considered it fast, it would need to be a cut above the rest.  
  
“It’s capable of supersonic flight,” Tails replied.   
  
“You have a supersonic plane?”  
  
“Yes,” He nodded.  
  
“Tails and I built it,” Rotor added. “With some help, of course.”  
  
“I helped with the upgrades,” Fiona piped up.  
  
“And you don’t use it all the time?”  
  
“No. I like flying. Why would I intentionally shorten the amount of time I get to spend doing it?” Tails asked.   
  
“Well, wouldn’t it have been helpful to have when you were chasing after Mecha Sally?”   
  
“Not particularly. It’s fast, but it doesn’t turn all that quickly. It got shot down when it engaged the Death Egg, and Nicole had to remake it,” He answered. “We wouldn’t have had that support outside of the city, so the Tornado was a better option.”  
  
“I guess…” Nic shrugged. “Anyway, let’s get going.”  
  
  
As the group boarded the plane and took their seats, Tails stopped at the door to the cockpit, glancing back at them.   
  
“Alright, when we get there, we’ll find someplace out of the way to land. Fiona and Nic will be able to go in first, while the rest of us get in position. It’ll probably be better for us to break in from the roof, otherwise we’ll almost certainly get spotted while we’re waiting,” He announced. “Fortunately, getting up there shouldn’t be hard.”  
  
“As long as someone can give me a lift,” Amy added.  
  
“Won’t be a problem, Ames,” Bunnie replied.  
  
“Any other questions?” Sonic asked, pausing for a response. When he got none, he turned to Tails, grinning. “Alright buddy, I think we’re good to go.”  
  
“Right. Well, get strapped in. I’m going to get us there as fast as possible.”  
  
  
***  
  
Mammoth Mogul sighed as he flipped through the book on his desk, scouring it for any hint of the epithet the letter from his future self had warned him of.  
  
_The Ashen King._  
  
Who or what did it represent? Ever since he’d received the letter, he poured over tomes and documents, historical texts, myths, legends, and prophecies, desperately trying to find any matching or similar titles, but he’d had no luck.   
  
He had been ready to dismiss the letter as a very clever forgery, perhaps by someone skilled enough to pick up his hand with some study and effort, when Silver showed up and confirmed a sizeable chunk of the letter’s content, which rendered the likelihood that it was fake all but gone.   
  
And, if the rest of it was true, why would the grave warning it ended with not be?  
  
Mogul knew himself to not be a joking man. He wasn’t humourless, but going out of his way to make such a statement in jest certainly wasn’t something he would do. And from what he’d seen in Silver’s memories, his future self was even less inclined toward comedy.  
  
The rest of the hedgehog’s memories bore little fruit. He was likewise unfamiliar with any sort of “Ashen King”, which left one answer: His future self had become aware of the Ashen King only after sending Silver to the past. The hedgehog was naive and stubborn, but not stupid. He would’ve noticed the presence of such an entity, had it been there. So either the creature simply had unfortunate timing, and arrived after Silver had travelled back to the past, or, perhaps it had been unleashed as a result of Silver making alterations to the timeline?  
  
Regardless, the lack of recorded information on such a creature made it more than likely that it had yet to appear. There was a slim chance that writing about it did exist, but simply wasn’t available to him, but it was infinitesimal in comparison. But either way, for an ageless being like him, it didn’t matter if the Ashen King took two weeks or two centuries to arrive, he would have to face it one day, and he would need to be prepared.  
  
  
A knock at the door interrupted his studies, and he let out a sigh as a SWATbot leaned through it.   
  
“`You have visitors, sir,`” It announced. “`Nicolette Weasel and Fiona Fox.`”  
  
The old mammoth raised an eyebrow. His reading of Silver’s memories had shown the elder of the two working alongside the Freedom Fighters, in opposition to Finitevus and Scourge. Not particularly notable, of course. If Nic had made an enemy of the genocidal echidna, or his brutish green lackey, aligning herself with the Freedom Fighters to defeat their mutual foes made sense.  
  
No, the interesting part was the pair of them in a hospital room, Fiona in the bed, her arms mechanical from the elbow down, with the rest of her former allies crammed in alongside Nic, all parties clearly on good terms. They spoke to each other like firm friends, and praised Fiona for her bravery in the face of her former partner.  
  
Most interesting, of course, was the sight of Princess Sally welcoming Fiona back onto her team, and hiring Nic for a long-term job.  
  
Mere days after the fact and they were now at his door. To join him? Unlikely, given what he’d just seen. An attack of some sort? Doubly so, Nic carried some powerful weapons with her, but no-one involved in the team would be foolish enough to believe that gave her a hope against someone as strong as him. But a distraction of some kind, while the rest of their more famous allies did something they didn’t want him to become aware of?  
  
Now that was far more likely.  
  
  
“Send them in.” Mogul grinned, leaning back in his chair as he closed the book and dropped it into his desk drawer. He could return to his studies later. For now, he had a plan of some kind to foil, and he reasoned that he’d be able to find it within their minds.  
  
“`Affirmative.`”  
  
***  
  
As Fiona and Nic waited for their mechanical guide to return, the vixen found herself trying to avoid meeting the eyes of anyone else. A good deal of the faces were familiar, both from her days as a criminal, and from the time she spent as a Freedom Fighter. Few were friendly.   
  
She’d dressed herself in a rough approximation of her previous attire, still a black sleeveless top and matching leggings, but she’d gone for more practical shoes and heavier, thicker gloves. Most of the outfit was geared toward allowing her to pass for her former self, while still allowing her a modicum of comfort- The Scourge-provided outfit had been awkward to do just about anything in, and she’d been amazed that she was still as agile as before while wearing it. The gauntlets, however, were necessary. Her cybernetic arms were quite plainly too advanced for anyone to afford without going to either the Freedom Fighters or the Dark Egg Legion, and neither organisation was popular under Mogul’s roof.  
  
“Well well well, look what the cat dragged in… Or should that be ‘weasel?’” Fiona flinched at the voice, and she saw Nic cringe at the words, as both turned to face their canine caller.  
  
“Hello, Sleuth,” She gave the name as much ice as she could manage, folding her arms as she glanced up at him. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”  
  
“I could say the same. How’d that operation with the Destructix go?” He smirked slightly. Despite retiring rather than sign up for her mission to rebuild the team and retrieve Scourge, he seemed genuinely interested in the outcome.  
  
“Eh, got it done, got paid, it was all going pretty smooth until Scourge went overboard. Fortunately, Nic here saved my tail, and we’ve been working together ever since,” She shrugged, glancing away. Lying about how her relationship with the monster ended came distressingly easy to her, though she supposed she’d lied to herself about how it had started, and about how it had progressed too.  
  
“You?” Sleuth turned to the hybrid. Unlike Fiona, she stood tall enough to look him straight in the eye. “Last I heard, you were on the run from Nack. How the heck did you get her away from Scourge if Nack was giving you trouble?”  
  
“I wasn’t on the run from Nack, I was on the run from his team. If Nack came after me alone I would’ve taken him out without any effort at all. Bark, on the other hand…” Nic replied. “But I saved her the same way I got the Nack problem sorted: I tricked the Freedom Fighters into doing the heavy-lifting for me, grabbed Fi, and high-tailed it. It’s amazing the sort of things you can get ‘em to do if you convince ‘em that you’re the lesser of two evils.”  
  
“Well, props for getting the better of Scourge _and_ Sonic, I guess,” The dog shrugged.  
  
“How about you? How’s retirement treating you?” Fiona asked. She didn’t really care for Sleuth’s side of the story, but the less she and Nic had to talk about their own stories, the easier it would be to avoid rumbling themselves.   
  
“I said I retired from merc work, I’m not kicking back completely. Can’t afford to in this climate anyway. Either the local Freedom teams would be on my tail pretty quickly, or I’d get ‘scouted’ by the fat man. Given the hit he took the other week, he’s probably scrambling to rebuild, and I’m not about to follow in Drago’s footsteps.”  
  
“Therein lies nothing but pain and humiliation,” The vixen smirked. Few things could stir up the more mean-spirited parts of her sense of humour now, but mocking Drago Wolf would never not be easy, or entertaining. Sleuth seemed to agree, laughing with her.  
  
“Exactly. Fortunately, Mogul was hiring, and needed someone a bit brighter and calmer than the average screwup that wanders in looking for somewhere to hide from Sonic. I’m the new chief of security here,” He replied, puffing his chest out with pride.  
  
“And yet still wearing prison fatigues,” Nic raised an eyebrow, watching the dog deflate in response.   
  
  
“`The boss will see you now,`” The SWATbot emerged from the door behind them, and held it open for them.  
  
“Welp, see you around, Sleuth,” Fiona shrugged, turning to follow the machine.   
  
“Yeah, laters,” Nic added, the door closing before Sleuth could say anything to respond. “That’s the guy that helped Scourge force you out of Knothole, right?”  
  
“Yeah, that’s him,” Fiona growled quietly.  
  
“Good to know. Might put a bullet in his lap on the way out. We’ll see.”  
  
“Wouldn’t be opposed to it, I’ll admit.”  
  
The robot said nothing as it led them up to Mogul’s office, and allowed them inside, closing the door behind them.  
  
  
“Miss Weasel, Miss Fox… please, have a seat,” Mogul greeted them, sitting at his desk with fingers tented.   
  
“Mammoth Mogul, pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Nic offered a handshake, which he took. Both sat down, Fiona remaining quiet as she glanced around the room.   
  
“So… two more enemies of the Freedom Fighters seek out my casino. I presume you’ve heard of the aid your comrades find here?” He intoned calmly, glancing between them.  
  
“Yeah, but we’re not just here for that,” Nic replied. “I’m pretty small fry in the grand scheme of things. Figure I’ve been on the run on my own for years now, I could probably look after myself. Even getting an extra mouth to feed wouldn’t stop me, Fi pulls her weight. Heck, she’d probably make my life a lot easier.”  
  
“Is that so?”  
  
“Yeah. So all things considered, we’d probably slip under the Freedom Fighters’ radar, and stay out of Eggman’s moustache too,” The wolf-weasel explained. Fiona smiled slightly as she listened to her talk. Had she not known the truth, and helped with the fabrication of their story a little, she would’ve believed every word out of Nic’s mouth.  
  
“Of course, of course…” Mogul nodded along with the story. “So what changed?”  
  
“Well, I just managed to save Fi here from a pretty twisted situation with her ex, Scourge. And he’s pretty darn possessive, so no way he isn’t after me too. And since he works for Finitevus… well, not only does that double the number of insane omnicidal Chaos users after us, but also means he can warp himself wherever he wants to go. Nowhere’s safe for us now…”  
  
“Except for somewhere close to an even more powerful Chaos Adept,” Fiona finished.  
  
“Exactly,” Nic confirmed.  
  
“I see, I see…” Mogul mused quietly, looking down at the desk, brow creasing. “Certainly, I don’t wish for the pair of you to bring the conflict between yourselves and Scourge to my door, but I consider myself a man of decency when it comes to potential allies. Throwing you both to your deaths at his hands would be incredibly poor form on my part… You would appear to very much have me over a barrel with regards to whether I can lend you my aid… Such a shame, then, that you’re lying to me.”  
  
  
Before the two could rise from the seats or try to flee, both were wreathed in a teal glow, pinning them to the chairs and paralysing them from head to toe. Neither could so much as blink, let alone run or even speak.  
  
“I’m afraid, Miss Weasel, that while your story was a good one, I had already observed it to be untrue. I don’t know for certain what you intended to do by coming here, though I have my guesses…” Mogul sneered at the pair of them. “But still… why not confirm the truth?”  
  
He reached over, his massive hands gripping both of their heads as his eyes lit up in bright green. He scoured through their memories, absorbing all of the information he needed. Their alliance with the Freedom Fighters, how exactly it had come to pass, and, most importantly for now, the details of the plan that had been made just the day before, and their overall goal. He knew now that once Naugus’ plan had failed, aiding and abetting his attempted coup had been considered an act of treason. And, of course, Geoffrey sold him out, giving the Freedom Fighters an excuse to strike at him.   
  
He would have to deal with the skunk later, for now the enemy at his door would require his attention.  
  
“So, you’ve come to take my Emerald and feed it to that Gizoid friend of yours… Such a shame that I knew your bluff in advance…” He mused. “Still, I can’t afford to waist energy on you both, either mine or my new ally’s… but fortunately, I don’t need to… Your own minds will make fine prisons for the both of you.”  
  
  
_The memories running through Fiona’s mind twisted, blurring, and she found herself lying on a cold, rough spit of land. Her hands felt cold and sore. Four figures silently stood in front of her, their faces blurry to her eyes.   
  
A shadow fell over her, as purple flames ignited around her paralysed body, and she heard Scourge’s mocking, rasping laughter as a clawed, burning hand reached down toward her throat._


	3. One Step Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cavalry has arrived, but Silver stands in their way. Meanwhile, Tails makes a desperate attempt to rescue Fiona and Nic...

** Sonic: Revival: Immortal  
**

**Chapter 3 of 6: One Step Forward**  
  
  
The remaining Freedom Fighters made their way across the rooftops of Casino Night. It had quickly been determined that it was probably safer and less conspicuous than approaching at ground level and then heading up to the top of Mogul’s casino.  
  
Sonic sprinted up the side of the first building, flipping over as he landed on the roof. Emerl and Shard arrived just after him, followed by Tails, Rotor, and Bunnie, the latter carrying Amy and setting her down, as they set off.  
  
They moved quickly, but only as fast as their slowest of them could go. They were relying on timing their entrance with Fiona and Nic’s distraction, so getting there faster would only mean more time waiting around anyway, and splitting up wouldn’t do them any favours.  
  
The group finally launched themselves onto the roof of their target, avoiding the eyes of the robotic bouncers, inspecting the top of the building for any way in.  
  
“No skylights, huh?” Sonic asked.  
  
“It’s a casino, windows aren’t generally a factor,” Tails replied. “They want you to lose track of time. No windows, no clocks.”  
  
“Right, so… how are we going to get in?” Amy asked. “There’s no windows and we don’t know where the vents are going to end up.”  
  
“I suggest we make an ingress of our own,” Emerl replied, her arm reshaping into a copy of Shard’s arm cannon. “We’re basically storming the place anyway, right?”  
  
“She’s not wrong,” The mechanical hedgehog shrugged. “And I like the idea.”  
  
  
“Yeah, let’s go with that,” Sonic grinned. “Tails, how long are we gonna be waiting?”  
  
  
“Well, this place was mapped out last time we had to deal with Mogul, and the tracker in Fiona’s arm should tell us where she and Nic are in the building,” The fox replied, his yellow handheld lighting up as a map of the casino appeared on the screen, a blue blip lighting up, moving through the map itself.  
  
“Alright, now we just have to patient, I guess?” Amy leaned on her hammer, as Sonic faked a disgusted face at the very concept of _waiting._  
  
  
“Alright, she’s moving into the office. Give it two more minutes, and get ready,” Tails announced. Emerl and Bunnie took position, aiming their weapons at the ground, while the rest of the party grouped up.  
  
“Everybody ready?” Bunnie asked.  
  
“Little late to back out now,” Rotor gave her a confident grin.  
  
“Ready when you are, Tails,” Sonic glanced back at his friend, who nodded, turning the device off and setting it down. He’d come back for it after they were done, of course, but he didn’t need it getting in the way, or getting damaged during the ensuing fight.  
  
“Then let’s go.”  
  
  
Emerl and Bunnie fired, blasting a hole in the roof, and the team jumped into the hole, the two gunners leading the charge, blowing through the subsequent floors, tunneling onto the casino floor, as they landed in the midst of the machines and tables.  
  
“Show’s over, ladies and gents!” Sonic announced as he stood up, smile only widening as he saw several of the patrons raise their weapons toward him. He surged forward, kicking down the first one, spin-jumping on another and bouncing into a third, as the bullets began to fly. He dodged away with ease, as Rotor deployed a shield to defend those that couldn’t avoid the gunfire themselves.  
  
Tails quickly followed Sonic’s lead, knocking down one of the gunmen with his namesakes, flicking a small explosive in the direction of a cluster of them, scattering them.  
  
“We need to end this quickly. We don’t want to waste energy, or give Mogul too much time to realise what’s happening. Emerl, could you do the honours?” He asked, prompting a nod from the Gizoid as her missile launchers formed on her shoulders. She launched upwards, bullets bouncing harmlessly off her hull as her third optic locked onto each of the gunners in turn, before she launched a volley, blasting them all down.  
  
“I would like to recommend you don’t get up. There’s a lot more where that came from,” She spread her arms wide.  
  
***  
  
In his office, Mogul’s phone rang, and he quickly answered it.  
  
“Boss, we have a situation on the main floor,” Sleuth’s voice echoed from the other end. “Sonic and a bunch of his friends just showed up, came through the ceiling. Some kinda funky-looking robot just took everyone out.”  
  
He glanced at the camera feed, spotting the small team making short work of guard and criminal patron alike. Just as the memories of his two prisoners had foretold, of course, but there was still cause for mild concern.  
  
The robot, which he’d caught glimpses of in the memories of all three of his recent visitors, currently swinging one of the larger thugs around by his ankle. He knew it had looked familiar before, but he hadn’t been able to place it until now.  
  
***  
  
_Almost three thousand years ago, one of Mogul’s earliest empires fell in the war with what he had come to know as the Empire of the Night.  
  
Their black-armoured soldiers had stormed his city, capturing all they could and killing what they couldn’t. Strange, semi-circular blades draining the vitality from his soldiers with every scratch, warriors appearing and disappearing in flashes of light, and a legion of grey golems tearing his defences apart, three eyes glowing balefully from their heads.  
  
Mogul himself had fought to defend his city, but while his huge levels of power could’ve evened the tide, he had not been caught up in battle with two of the golems, these ones blue and red in respective colours.  
  
The blue one obscured its position with mist, striking him with torrents of water, needles of ice, and shocks of lightning, while the red one unleashed searing gouts of flame from its hands. Both of them moved fast, too fast for him to keep up with both of them at once, and although the damage each of them did to his hide was limited, only a few scratches, cuts, and minor burns, he couldn’t circumvent them at all.   
  
“Είναι αρκετά σκληρή, αδελφή…” The blue one spoke calmly, a young woman’s voice sounding from behind its faceplate. She spoke Nocturnian, but it was a language he wasn’t familiar with.  
  
“Ωω, είναι ... πρέπει να καλέσουμε την τρίτη αδερφή μας, Charyb?” The red one giggled, her voice similar to the blue golem, but higher-pitched, younger.  
  
“Μια εξαιρετική πρόταση, η Scylla,” Charyb straightened, pressing a fingertip to the side of her head. “Ενεργοποιήστε το πρωτόκολλο Omega.”  
  
  
As Mogul raised his hand to strike at the distracted golems, a bright flash shone overhead, and the sky began to darken.  
  
Hanging in the air above the city was a third golem, similar to the two that assailed him, but taller, its bronze and tan armour sharper, blades jutting from its knees and elbows, tendrils extending from its back, with a glowing crimson omega symbol shining on its chestplate and shoulders. It spread its arms wide, before raising one hand above its head, energy starting to coalesce in its palm as the black sky cracked with red lightning.  
  
“Όλες οι δυνάμεις Nocturnus, πέφτουν πίσω,” Scylla announced, before she and her sister vanished, as did the black-armoured warriors, leaving only the marching grey golems behind.  
  
  
The omega-golem now held a miniature red sun in its palm, and hurled it down toward the city. With barely a second to react, Mogul raised his staff, green Chaos lancing from the tip and into the looming orb of destructive power.  
  
It wasn’t enough.  
  
The explosion wiped out what was left of his city, and as the immortal’s body pulled itself back together, he looked up to see his destroyer, still hovering above the city, all three eyes staring dispassionately down at him as everything went dark._  
  
***  
  
Mogul’s brow creased as the memory came to him.   
  
On that day, his power over Mobius’ history had come to an end, and from then on he would have to fight to control it every waking moment of his life. And now, with the Freedom Fighters quite literally at his door, another of the robots that had ended his empire in an explosion of Chaos fire had arrived alongside them.  
  
For some, it would’ve been in ill omen, but he refused to accept that. He was far stronger now than he was then, and this individual machine might’ve had the same colours as the one that ended his reign, but that was where the similarities ended.  
  
“Don’t concern yourself with that, Sleuth. Our new friend will be handle it for us,” He replied. “They’re out of your league.”  
  
“Understood, boss.”  
  
***  
  
As the Freedom Fighters finished with the last of the initial wave, they regrouped, ready to head for the door to Mogul’s office.  
  
“They go down almost as easily as Eggman’s robots. I’m almost disappointed,” Emerl sighed.  
  
“Well, some of them _are_ his robots, or at least they used to be,” Sonic shrugged.  
  
“Sadly, quite a few of these ones were more competent in terms of design and functionality than the ones he uses now,” Tails frowned.  
  
  
Before they could talk further, however, the entire party were seized within a teal glow, and hurled up toward the ceiling, crashing against it before dropping back to the floor. Some landed more gracefully than others, but as they all recovered, they looked up to see Silver striding toward them, eyes and forehead glowing green.  
  
“Oh, that’s just great…” Sonic groaned, forcing himself upright.  
  
“Silver? What are you doing?!” Shard recoiled, incredulous.  
  
“That’s what Mogul did to me, Mighty, and Mina, isn’t it?” Tails said quietly, prompting a nod from Sonic. “Thought so…”  
  
  
“I’d ask you to leave my casino, but it seems you know too much already…” Silver spoke, the voice his own, but the tone clearly Mogul’s.   
  
“You guys have a lot of bad guys that screw with people’s heads,” Emerl mused, lowering into a ready stance.  
  
“We noticed, hon,” Bunnie sighed.  
  
“Welp, best to just knock him out and get on with it,” The Gizoid fired her engines, lunging for the hedgehog.  
  
“Emerl, wait!” Shard called out, but she was already closing in on Silver, only for his raised hand to stop her short, still several metres from him. She hung, paralysed, for just a moment. Then he swept his hand aside, hurling her into the wall with a loud thud.  
  
“Yeah, thought that might happen…” The Metal Sonic sighed, stepping forward from the group. Fighting Silver certainly wasn’t something he wanted to happen, least of all with his current power problems. Best to try reaching him. “Silver, buddy, you in there?”  
  
  
In response, the grey hedgehog’s head snapped toward him, and he lifted Shard from the ground, hurling him into the still-tightly-grouped Freedom Fighters, forcing them to scatter.  
  
“There’s no point in trying that, Shard, Mogul’s control is pretty much complete. Silver isn’t even conscious of what’s happening. I speak from experie-” Tails began to explain, when the sound of a scream echoed from the now-open door to the office area. “Fiona…”  
  
  
Without another word, Tails turned in place, and launched himself toward the door. Silver raised a hand toward the fox, but Sonic tackled him, launching him into a statue of the casino’s owner.  
  
“We’ll handle this, and catch up!” He called after his friend, watching as Tails sliced the SWATbot guarding the door apart, and disappeared through it. The distraction proved costly, however, as Silver quickly recovered and hurled the blue hedgehog upwards, only for Emerl to catch him before he hit the ceiling again.  
  
“I really wish Nicole was here right now,” The Gizoid groaned. Truth be told, she’d thought that specific phrase a lot lately, but in this case she at least understood _why_she did.  
  
“Yeah, she’d be real helpful,” Sonic agreed. “Still, without her, you’re on the right track. We’ve got to knock him out.”  
  
“Want me to give you a boost?” Emerl offered.  
  
“Nah, he’ll see that coming and throw me again. We need to fight smarter, not harder.”  
  
  
At the same time, Bunnie and Rotor begin to blast Silver with a hail of laser fire, Shard joining in as he recovered. Silver raised his hands, but his powers did little to stop the beams, only giving him a minor shield.  
  
Amy seized her chance, rushing toward him, but his psychic grip snared her hammer, dragging it upwards and lifting her off the floor. It swung left, then right, but she held firm, trying to wrench it free from his hold, only for him to hurl it, wielder and all, at Rotor.   
  
The walrus stopped firing, and caught Amy, but as the lasers eased up, Silver rose, grabbing Bunnie and Shard’s weapon arms and forcing them toward each other. The robotic hedgehog just managed to get his normal hand over his chest before the attack could hit his Power Gem, but both were still knocked from the air.  
  
Sonic, now back on the ground, dodged a barrage of tables and chairs, zipping in close before dodging away from Silver, and slamming into his back. He staggered forward, recovering just in time to see Emerl barreling toward him.  
  
He caught her outstretched fist, but as her charged stopped short, her engines increased their power, and her arm shifted, the nozzle of an engine emerging from her elbow, firing as she began to push through.  
  
Bunnie and Rotor opened fire again, and Amy took the opportunity to bring her hammer down on Silver’s back, their combined strength breaking his focus. Emerl powered through, and slammed her fist into his cheek, launching him through a slot machine, before he came to a crumpled rest on what was formerly a roulette table.  
  
“Nice work guys, I think that should do it…” Sonic grinned.  
  
“Let’s just make sure he’s okay,” Shard replied.  
  
Yet, as they approached, Silver’s eyes opened, still glowing, and he threw them all aside with a tremendous shockwave of psychic power.  
  
“You’ll have to try a little harder than that…” He looked down at them, an unnatural smile on his face.  
  
“I think we need a new strategy…” Rotor groaned.  
  
***  
  
Tails flew up the stairs, carving apart any mechanical guards in his way, clubbing the organic ones into unconsciousness.  
  
Letting Fiona and Nic confront someone as powerful as Mogul without backup was a terrible idea, and he should’ve said so at the meeting. Now they were both in danger… or worse.  
  
He shook his head. Thinking about that wouldn’t do either him or them any good.  
  
Finding the office wasn’t hard, it was at the end of a long corridor, and even if it hadn’t been in the most obvious spot, he’d memorised the layout before the mission. Kicking his namesakes into high gear, he surged down the hallway, ripping up the carpet and rattling the art pieces in his wake, raising his hand to the door and reducing it to splinters in a violent burst of red.  
  
  
“Ahh… Mister Prower… I thought you might come rushing to this one’s aid…” Mogul’s false greeting barely registered with Tails, instead he zeroed in on his two comrades, Fiona in particular, clearly in some kind of sleep, writhing in fear and pain as she murmured half-formed pleas for help.  
  
“_What are you doing to her!?_” He growled, already feeling the fiery rage that had all but consumed him before building up again. His crimson eyes locked onto the mammoth, who gave him a self-satisfied smile.  
  
“They appear to be having… nightmares,” He replied, and Tails gritted his teeth as he glanced between the pair of them. He didn’t know Nic well enough to guess what she was seeing, but as he spotted Fiona desperately trying to protect herself from a non-existent threat, he froze. It didn’t take a mind as sharp as his to realise what it was that she was seeing.  
  
He boiled over, both hands igniting with roaring scarlet fire, twin beams of uncontained power storming into Mogul’s chest, pushing him backwards.  
  
“**Let them go, _now,_**” He roared, feeling the heat of his energy spreading over his skin, his fur standing on end.   
  
For a moment, it looked as though his attack had staggered the mammoth, but as a low chuckle escaped his lips, he straightened, a pulse of green Chaos splintering Tails’ beams and knocking him off his feet in the same burst. The fox winced as his back struck the ground, and he had no time to dodge before another weak pulse hurled him into the wall.  
  
Even a fraction of Mogul’s strength was greater than his, and they both knew it.  
  
“I don’t need to read your mind to see what it is that troubles you, Miles…” He intoned calmly, walking around his desk and striding toward Tails as he struggled to his feet. “You can barely control your power anymore. So long neglecting your gifts, and now they refuse to work properly for you. All this might, all this rage… impotent in the face of any true threat. You may have defeated me twice before, but you are very far from that now… and it scares you.”  
  
“**Shut up!**” He blasted Mogul square in the face, momentarily blinding the mammoth, and sprung up, swinging his tails with all of his strength down on his forehead. But, like they had against Naugus, the power failed him, and Mogul caught his attack, swinging him bodily back to the ground.   
  
“Did I touch a nerve, boy?” The old wizard mocked, throwing him aside. “What, precisely, did you hope to achieve in charging to the rescue of Miss Fox and her friend, all alone? Did you think your rage and untrained Chaos would be enough to stop me and save her? Or were you thinking at all? She does seem to cloud your judgement, doesn’t she?”  
  
As Tails forced himself to stand again, he flared up for another attack, only to freeze up when he saw his foe holding Fiona up by one arm. The vixen squirmed, kicking weakly against his torso in an effort to free herself from whatever monster her brain was interpreting him as.  
  
“L-let me go…” She murmured softly, tears streaking her muzzle, and the mammoth chuckled again as he spotted his paralysed opponent.  
  
“She really is your achilles’ heel, isn’t she?” He smirked, watching Tails’ aura fade away, his eyes turning blue again. “I thought so… Still… if she matters so much to you… let’s make a deal.”  
  
“I won’t negotiate with you!” Tails snapped, hoping he sounded stronger externally than he did inside his head. From Mogul’s reaction, that wasn’t the case.   
  
“You don’t have a choice, do you?” He couldn’t have sounded more smug. “I will release your little crush and her friend from their nightmares if you surrender, and allow yourself to be siphoned of your remaining Chaos power.”  
  
“What?!” Tails recoiled. “What do you want with that?!”  
  
“I can always use more power, Miles, but in this specific case, I think I may need it in future, even moreso than before… And we both know that you neither truly need it, nor want it,” He replied, extending a hand toward the fox.   
  
“H-how…?”  
  
“I’ve seen her memories, boy,” He raised Fiona slightly, sounding a little impatient. “I know you lost control and almost transformed before. I know you scared her, and I know you don’t want that. As for knowing that you don’t need it… It’s quite simple. If you did, you would’ve used your powers far more than you do. We’re both well aware of your technological genius. As far as I can see… it’s a win-win for both of us…”  
  
  
Tails paused, eyes narrowing as he glared hatefully at Mogul. He trusted the pachyderm about as far as he could throw him, and this would only put the rest of his friends at greater risk… but at the same time, if Mogul was trying to absorb energy from him, that would occupy his mind and his powers when the others caught up… Yes, Mogul would have more power, but he would have a much harder time using it. And maybe losing his uncontrollable powers was a better option. He’d hurt Emerl. He’d terrified Fiona. All of his friends and his parents were worried about him. Mastering it was far harder than he’d expected. Being rid of them would be better. If he lost his ability to fly, he’d make a jetpack. And if there was even a chance of saving Fiona and Nic…  
  
“Fine. I’ll do it… On one condition.” He finally answered.  
  
“And that is?”  
  
“Let Silver go too. If you’ve got my power, you don’t need him, and you’ll get my energy faster if you aren’t trying to use him against the others too.”  
  
“Fair enough. You have a deal, Miles,” Mogul grinned. A glowing green blue energy sphere enveloped his body, and levitated into the mage’s palm. “Now… I’d tell you this won’t hurt… but that would be a lie.”  
  
“Just hold up your end of the bargain,” He growled. “I can take it.”  
  
“Of course,” He dropped Fiona to the ground, and her eyes flickered open for a moment as her head cleared.   
  
“Tails?” She murmured, before passing out again, lying still this time. Nic similarly stopped thrashing, and sank into the chair she’d been left on. Then Tails felt it: The familiar sting of his energy being sapped as Mogul began to leech the Chaos power from his body. His muscles locked up, and he writhed within the orb, trapped, but confident that the others would at least have a chance because of this.  
  
***  
  
On the casino floor, Silver had just been about to smash a statue down on Sonic, when he stopped short, his eyes rolling back into his head, and both hedgehog and ornament fell toward the ground.  
  
Shard grabbed Silver from the air, as Emerl and Bunnie caught the statue, stopping its fall and setting it safely down. The pair of them then approached the two former Secret Freedom Fighters, Sonic, Amy, and Rotor joining them.  
  
“Silver? You okay?” Shard asked, as his eyelids fluttered, and he let out a pained grimace, sitting up and rubbing his forehead.  
  
“Ugh… I think so,” He groaned.  
  
“What are you doing here, Silver?” Sonic asked.  
  
“I’ll explain later… right now we’ve got to stop Mogul…” He managed to stand, Shard stepping in to support his friend. “I’m… sorry. He knew about Fiona and Nic being on your side from my memories.”  
  
“Scrap, he was onto us from the start,” Emerl clenched her fists.  
  
“But if he’s winning, why’d he let you go?” Bunnie frowned.  
  
“Tails must’ve beaten him!” Amy beamed. “He must’ve saved Fiona and Nic and then they took Mogul down!”  
  
  
For a moment, they considered the idea, but the sound of Tails’ pained scream echoing from the stairs stopped it short.  
  
“Or not,” The Gizoid growled. Sonic had already taken off toward the door, and she quickly followed, the others joining the charge quickly.  
  
“Hang on, buddy…” Sonic said quietly. “We’re on our way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charyb and Scylla are also getting the "Lady in this fic" treatment. Anyone that knows my online history may recognise that I actually gave them said treatment before Emerl, largely because they're named after Scylla and Charybdis, who are both female in the original myth.
> 
> Also yeah, Tails' thing for Fiona has not gone away, and will not be going away.


	4. Two Steps Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic and co. rush to save Tails from Mogul, but they may be facing a far greater challenge than any of them were prepared for.

** Sonic: Revival- Immortal  
**

**Chapter 4 of 6: Two Steps Back**  
  
  
The guards between the casino floor and Mogul’s office were still out cold or offline from Tails’ own rush up the stairs, leaving the team with no obstacles to getting there.  
  
“I’m really sorry about this, guys…” Silver murmured, hovering beside them.  
  
“It’s fine, Silver. If we held grudges against people that got mind-controlled for getting mind-controlled, we’d never talk to each other, or anyone in Mobotropolis,” Sonic shrugged.  
  
“Besides, we forgive people that were our enemies of their own choosing too,” Amy added.  
  
“I still messed up your plan, though…”  
  
“You didn’t know what our plan was. It’s not really fair,” Sonic brushed it off. “Still, we should focus on helping Tails.”  
  
“Right…” He didn’t sound convinced, but for now there were bigger issues to worry about.  
  
  
The door to Mogul’s office was still blown apart, and as they rushed down the length of the corridor, they were able to see the mammoth inside, Tails trapped within the green orb.  
  
“What’s he doing to him?!” Emerl recoiled.  
  
“Looks like he’s draining his power. He’s done this before…” Sonic’s eyes narrowed. “When we get in there, somebody grab Fi and Nic, everyone else… go nuts.”  
  
“**Way ahead of you.**”  
  
“Actually…” Sonic turned toward the Gizoid, and offered a hand. “Let’s hit him together.”  
  
“**I like that idea…**” Emerl nodded, taking his hand, as Sonic’s blue aura and Emerl’s crimson one mixed together, and the duo boosted forward, tearing through the corridor, bursting into Mogul’s office, and driving straight into the mammoth’s gut, shunting him backwards.  
  
Bunnie and Amy appeared in their wake, the cyborg slugging him in one knee as Amy swung her hammer bodily into the other, while Rotor and Shard opened fire on him, beams lancing into his body.  
  
Taking the opportunity, Silver overturned Mogul’s desk, and grabbed Fiona and Nic with his telekinesis, placing them behind the furniture, giving them cover from the fight. Taking the opportunity presented, he quickly swiped the Time Stone from its hiding place, before jumping onto the desk and reaching out toward Tails. If he could just pull him away from Mogul’s grasp…  
  
Mogul’s eyes snapped toward him, eyes narrowing, and he raised his hand. Silver’s stomach dropped as he felt the mark on his forehead beginning to burn again, but evidently Sonic saw his plight, and rammed full-force into Mogul’s face, crashing into the bridge of his nose and knocking him off-balance. The pain subsided, and he let out a sigh of relief.  
  
  
Emerl landed on the opposite side of the room, her chestplate opening up as the Nova Cannon sliding into place.  
  
“**Get clear!**” She shouted, before a massive energy beam erupted from her chest. The rest of the Freedom Fighters scattered, but this gave Mogul the opportunity to respond in kind, an equally-sized beam firing from his hand.  
  
  
Behind the desk, Fiona groaned, opening her eyes as she pushed herself up. She glanced down at her free hand. Metal once again, her shields active and pulsing softly. Whether illusion or hallucination, the vivid nightmare Mogul had inflicted on her was gone. Nic lay beside her, out cold, but she didn’t appear to be in distress. Fiona crawled over to her, nudging her.  
  
“Nic? You okay?” She asked. The wolf-weasel slowly opened her eyes, rolling over onto her back as she glanced up at her friend.  
  
“Ungh, what happened? Where’d Nack go?” She asked.  
  
“Still in jail, that was some kind of illusion or vision or something,” Fiona replied. “None of that was real.”  
  
“That would explain why my kneecaps are back,” Nic groaned, sitting up. “Okay, what’s going on?”  
  
“That,” Fiona pointed past the rubble that they were left behind.  
  
  
Mogul stood in the centre of the room, squaring off with Emerl, the red beam erupting from the Gizoid’s chest more than matched by the ancient Mobian’s own blast. Tails floated, writhing within the spherical shield in Mogul’s free hand.  
  
“**Guys, hit him now, while he’s got his hands full!**” She yelled, straining against the force of the beam.  
  
“Way ahead of you, Emerl!” Sonic shouted back. “Silver, hold him down! Rotor, Shard, give me, Bunnie, and Amy covering fire!”  
  
“Ergh, I’ll help with that!” Nic called out, clambering to her feet and staggering toward the group, Fiona following behind her.  
  
“You sure, Nic?” The hedgehog asked, turning back toward her. “You look a little unsteady.”  
  
“I’ll be fine,” She nodded.  
  
“Is there anything I can do?” Fiona asked. “I haven’t got much charge…”  
  
“No problem, Fi. Just grab Tails as soon as that barrier around him does down! Just be careful, if Emerl wins that beam-war you’re gonna want to get out of the way quickly,” He answered.  
  
“That’s okay, I’m good at dodging,” She nodded, before holding up her hands. “Can someone give me a boost?”  
  
“Sure thing, Fi,” Bunnie raised her arm cannon, firing a few blasts into each palm. Fiona shuddered slightly, feeling the tingle of the power flowing into her.  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
  
“**Can you guys hurry up!?**” Emerl’s voice sounded. She’d been pushed further back, her feet digging into the ground, staggering under the crushing weight of Mogul’s attack. The braces extended from her shins, burying themselves in the floor to anchor her.  
  
“Right, no time for more planning, let’s move!” Sonic turned, crouching as he prepared to launch himself forward. “Silver, grab him!”  
  
“On it!” The grey hedgehog replied, wreathed in teal as he focused his telekinetic grip on Mogul’s legs, holding the ancient mage down. “You’re all clear, fire!”  
  
“Roger that!” Rotor nodded.  
  
“Covering fire, coming right up!” Shard added.  
  
  
The three gunners opened fire, spraying Mogul with lasers, as Sonic lunged at him, Bunnie and Amy close behind. But as they closed the gap, Sonic bounced off another shield, pinballing back toward the group.  
  
“Sonic!” Amy cried out, as he flew past her.  
  
“I’ve got him!” Fiona called, intercepting his flight path and snatching him from the air. The impact pulsed through her limbs as she set him down. “You alright?”  
  
“Yeah, just a bit rattled. Wasn’t expecting that,” He shook his head.  
  
  
“A word of advice…” Mogul spoke up, his tone mocking, patronising. “Don’t make a plan where I can hear you. These ears of mine aren’t just for show.”  
  
“Our shots were hitting him, he must’ve only put the barrier up when Sonic started his charge…” Shard narrowed his optics.  
  
“His own blast’s getting through, though… The shield must be open on Emerl’s side!” Fiona realised.  
  
“Alrighty, change target!” Sonic shouted, zipping around, leaping over Emerl’s head and boosting himself toward the mammoth. Sure enough, this time he closed in, striking him square in the gut. He flinched, as Bunnie and Amy rushed through, the former’s fist striking between his eyes as the latter slammed her hammer into the elbow of the arm he was using to fire at Emerl.  
  
His beam faltered, and for the first time Emerl began to push back, evening out their attacks, Mogul letting out a strained, frustrated growl. At the same moment, his wall faded away, and Rotor and Shard resumed their suppressant fire.  
  
“Keep it up, I got something for him!” Nic yelled above the noise, unlimbering the larger rifle from her back. Unfolding the bipod, she braced it against the upturned desk, taking a deep breath as she aimed, and pulled the trigger. The anti-material gun bucked heavily, almost knocking her off of her feet, but she held firm. The armour-piercing bullet speared into Mogul’s knee, shattering the bone and forcing him to kneel with a pained roar. Emerl’s beam surged forward, so close to him now that it was almost touching his fingers.  
  
“Chaos, Nic…” Fiona murmured. Given the damage, it was a wonder his lower leg was still attached.  
  
“Wasn’t sure if the normal sniper would get through his hide,” She shrugged. “Besides, it worked, didn’t it? Go grab the kid.”  
  
“Right,” She nodded, striding forward.  
  
  
But as she rushed toward the fracas, Mogul gritted his teeth, his three good limbs tensing as his eyes blazed crimson, before turning a stark white, the Emerald shining brightly within his chest. Fiona stopped, freezing up as she realised the mammoth was standing up, his ruined knee pulling itself back together. The pale energy arced over his body, shocks of lightning spreading out from the gemstone.  
  
“**_ENOUGH!_**” He bellowed, white Chaos erupting from his body.  
  
The floor cracked, throwing every other fighter from their feet. Emerl’s solid anchor fell apart, and she slammed against the wall, her beam overwhelmed in seconds. Bunnie gave Sonic and Amy the best cover she could manage with her shield, but all three of them were laid out quickly, far too close to the epicentre to effectively defend themselves or even try to dodge. Rotor did a far better job of protecting Shard, quickly covering the robot’s already-damaged core with some of his spare nanites and positioning his armoured bulk to take the brunt of the blast. Silver crumpled as his psychic grasp shattered, and Nic’s cover disintegrated, her gun torn from her hands as she crashed heavily to the damaged ground. Fiona’s arms absorbed as much as they could, gloves peeling away and exposing the metal underneath, but soon hit their limit, and she crashed down, reeling in pain.  
  
“No…” Tails murmured, punching futilely against the inside of his prison.  
  
“A valiant effort…” The mammoth breathed, seemingly struggling for air after the damage done to his leg. “But ultimately fruitless. And for that, Miss Weasel… you will perish.”  
  
“You said you wouldn’t hurt them!” The fox protested, but Mogul merely shook his head.  
  
“And I intended to keep that… but then she shot me, as part of a plan to overturn the outcome of said deal. As far as I’m concerned, that renders the exchange null and void…” He raised his hand toward Nic’s prone form, a spear launching from his palm.  
  
Before it could find its mark, however, another white blast collided with the spear, knocking it off-course. Both adepts turned, spotting Fiona, her left hand smoking as she turned to glare at Mogul, her eyes glowing white.  
  
“_Let’s see how you like a taste of your own medicine, old man!_” She yelled, raising her right hand and unleashing the rest of her stored power, striking him square in the chest. He staggered, feeling the sting of his own power burning him. Far from the massive room-clearing explosion, Fiona’s mechanical arms focused all of that energy into a single beam, forcing him to stumble back, bracing himself against the wall. “_Leave her alone, and let my friend go!_”  
  
“Fiona…” Tails murmured, awestruck. Given everything that the vixen had been through, he never would’ve expected to see her stand up and give her all against Mogul like this. Sensing the ancient adept’s strength faltering, her redoubled his efforts, throwing all of weight against the shield, trying to force his way through. But as the beam waned and faded, the mammoth still stood, and straightened, narrowing his eyes at the now-spent fox.  
  
“If you’re so eager… you can die first…” He hissed, raising a hand toward her. Fiona froze, rooted to the spot as her anger melted into terror. Tails felt his blood run cold as Mogul opened fire once again.  
  
“_**NO!**_” He cried out, vision turning to a red haze as energy exploded through him.  
  
  
Fiona covered her face with her arms, dropping to her knees as she braced for the impact, but no hit ever came. Instead, as she collapsed, Emerl launched herself across the room, intercepting the shot with her own copies of Fiona’s cybernetics. The Gizoid recoiled from the force, but held firm, absorbing the attack without much strain.  
  
“**You okay?**” She asked, glancing over her shoulder. Fiona opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, she was interrupted by a scream.  
  
Tails screaming.  
  
  
Both whirled, spotting the smaller fox still contained with the sphere, back arched, arms tensed, wreathed in scarlet fire. His aura echoed through the room, shaking it as Chaos arced over his body. It coalesced around his neck, forming into a flowing red cape, and Turbo Tails threw a punch into the wall of his prison, rattling both it and Mogul.  
  
For a moment, the mammoth paused, but his self-satisfied smile returned, and he shook his head, managing a small laugh.  
  
“A nice attempt, but we both know I’ve contained your paltry Turbo form before, and that you aren’t anywhere near practiced enough to handle anything stronger. All your transformation will do is give me more power to absorb!” He said, tapping a finger against the shield.  
  
Tails gritted his teeth, gripping his forehead as he floated back from the edge of the orb. He growled, sounding pained, curling up before throwing his arms wide, fists clenched, back arching once more. He screamed again, this time an agonised cry as his aura exploded outwards, cracking the barrier.  
  
“What the…?” Mogul muttered.  
  
Tails’ fur spiked up as it turned a bright gold, the cape blowing off his shoulders and evaporating into energy once more. His teeth grew longer, sharper, forming vicious fangs, hands opening as his claws tore through his gloves.  
  
His eyes opened, and immediately, a pair of crimson, spiralling beams lancing out from, searing downwards and shattering the shield, the barely-contained shockwave from Tails’ Super transformation throwing Mogul, Emerl, Fiona, and the other recovering Freedom Fighters to the ground.  
  
  
The mammoth stood up, clenching his fists as the white Chaos ignited around them once more, squaring up to Tails as he touched down. The fox seemed to wince, twinging as the red electricity intensified for a moment, unleashing another pair of searing beams from his eyes. Mogul blasted back at him, but Tails’ attack sliced through his own in a second, and speared into him, agony spiking through his body.  
  
Mogul roared in pain as the fire washed over him. Tails rose from the floor, closing the gap as the mammoth was forced to his knees. The beams stopped, but as he looked up, the ancient pachyderm finally saw their source: Tails’ eyes no longer looked remotely natural, instead all he saw within them were endless crimson spirals.  
  
“Wh… what are you…” He groaned, as Tails’ fist slammed into his gut, launching him clear through the wall, bouncing off the ground before he scraped to a halt on the casino floor.  
  
“Tails...? Are you-” Fiona ventured, cut off as he lunged after Mogul. “What happened to him?”  
  
“I dunno… but I don’t think it’s good…” Emerl replied, holding out her hand to pull Fiona to her feet, her eyes turning blue once more.  
  
“I think he just went Super…” Sonic replied, jogging over. “But… I’m not sure how…”  
  
“Well, whatever’s happening, he’s putting the hurt on Mogul…” Nic shrugged. “Still… we might wanna evacuate. This is probably going to get even worse than it already was.”  
  
***  
  
Mogul hurled a white spear at Super Tails, only for him to vanish, leaving the spear to destroy another chunk of his own building. He growled, whirling to try and spot his foe, only to feel the fox’s claws raking across his back, Chaos fire scorching him.  
  
“**_Burn._**” He hissed, voice backed by an unearthly echo, unleashing the heat vision again, searing into the open wound. Mogul screamed, collapsing as his suit jacket ignited, hauling himself away from the beams, tearing his burning clothing away. He rolled over, desperately throwing another barrage of energy bolts, none of them doing anything to Tails’ empowered body. He threw a punch, but the smaller adept caught his fist, stopping his attack short as he squeezed, breaking the mammoth’s fingers as he wrenched him off the floor, hurling him away.  
  
He pivoted and began floating toward his fallen opponent, but stopped as a bullet squashed against his head, dropping harmlessly to the ground. Super Tails turned slowly, spiralling eyes searching for whomever interrupted him, and he quickly realised that while he had been tearing into Mogul, the casino’s patronage- the ones that hadn’t fled when the fighting began- had now rounded on him, encircling him and standing between him and his target. Criminals, thugs, mercenaries, ex-legionnaires, even some of Robotnik’s old Badniks, determined to defend their protector. Most had firearms trained on him, others held melee weapons, and a few had even improvised clubs from the rubble.  
  
“Give ‘im hell, boys!” Sleuth commanded, and a hail of bullets, lasers, explosives and other missiles slammed against his rock-hard skin, ricocheting away with little effect as he remained still.  
  
“_**Futile…**_” He rasped, as his eyes flooded red, spewing out the twin beams once more. They washed over the ring of attackers as he turned on the spot, sweeping it over them all. Some of them ducked, jumped up, or dodged away, only to be caught as more blasts of unchecked power exploded from his palms. Letting out an almost-feral growl, the fox didn’t stop for a moment, even when all of the aggressors lay on the ground, continuing to blast and burn the building, seemingly at random.  
  
  
Mere metres away, Mogul stood, gaping at the sight before him. His facade had been ruined by Geoffrey’s loose lips and the deception by the mercenaries, leaving any cover from the Freedom Fighters in tatters, and whatever kind of transformation he had induced in Tails was now in the process of razing his business to the ground, customers and all. Now there was only one way to survive… He’d beaten Sonic, Silver, and their new mechanical companions in combat, and without a Super mode, Tails posed no threat. All he had to do was force the transformation to end, and he could deal with them as he saw fit. If he was feeling merciful, he could erase their memories and use his marks to force them to kill St. John, restoring his cover… but by now he was sorely tempted to kill them all and pin the blame on the rampaging super-fox.  
  
Snarling, he raised his hand to the ceiling, and fired a barrage of small blasts above Tails’ head. Seemingly lost in the destruction his maddened form was unleashing, he never noticed the attack, until the ceiling cracked, and fell in. Already weakened by the sweeping beams of heat vision, it collapsed almost entirely, most of it descending upon Tails, as guided by the earth manipulation of Mogul’s Ixian magic.  
  
For a moment, the room lay still, save for the fires, the berserk fox buried under several tons of rock, concrete, and wood, and Mogul fell back into a seated position, panting for air. There was no way that it would hold Tails forever, but it would at least give him a little breathing room…  
  
  
Then Tails’ clawed hand ripped up from the pile, and clenched, the pile exploding apart as he tore his way free, lunging toward Mogul. He seized the larger fighter by the trunk, pulling him down to below his own eye level, spearing his heat vision directly into the mammoth’s forehead.  
  
He screamed, scarlet consuming his vision. Wreathing his hands in power, he slowly, agonisingly reached up, closing his fingers around Tails’ head. He growled, the beams still burning his palms, but as his eyesight cleared, he stood up, for a moment regaining the upper hand, until he noticed the younger adept’s fanged mouth pulling into a too-wide smile.  
  
“**_Chaos… Lance…_**”  
  
He pressed his palm against Mogul’s chest, and a crimson beam stabbed through his torso, spearing from his back and blowing out the wall. Colour drained from the world as Mogul’s arms went limp, the white glow fading from his hands and eyes as Tails pulled his hand back, the beam dissipating.  
  
A ragged breath escaped his lips as his eyes rolled back, his weight sagging against Super Tails’ strength, before the fox kicked the body over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way I'm British and I love some elements from STC. Like this one!
> 
> I've been waiting to upload this one. It's something that's been building up for a while. Tails' issues with his powers were established in Chapter 4 of The Broken, brought up again in Chapter 5 and Chapter 7 of that same arc. Finitevus explained the existence of stress-induced Super transformation in Chapter 7 as well, and he almost turned in Chapter 1 of Succession. And now it's here.
> 
> Mogul really shouldn't have aimed at Fiona.


	5. Burning Bright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mogul is defeated, but the berserk Super Tails still stands, and calming him down isn't going to be easy. With none of the heroes able to stand up to an unchained Super form, who can save them now?

** Sonic: Revival- Immortal **

**  
Chapter 5 of 6: Burning Bright**  
  
Super Tails stood among the burning remains the casino, hovering over the fallen, seemingly lifeless body of Mammoth Mogul, surrounded by burned thugs and mercenaries, and the melted remains of robots. For a moment, he remained still, breathing heavily, as his aura began to flicker.  
  
Then, his hands suddenly grasped at his forehead, and he doubled over, crimson sparks rippling over his body. With an enraged growl, he unleashed another burst of heat vision at the fallen mage, before lifting his eyes and slicing more into the burning room. He let out another scream, aura flaring violently as the ground cracked beneath his feet.  
  
From the doorway, the rest of the Freedom Fighters watched. Sonic and Silver stood at the front, while Fiona huddled behind Nic at the back, the others squeezed between them.  
  
“Okay, good news, Mogul’s down. Bad news, Tails isn’t,” Sonic announced. “We gotta find a way to calm him down…”  
  
“Okay, and how exactly did you plan on doing that?” Nic prompted, frowning. “Mogul was kicking our collective butts and the kid just single-handedly beat him. And apparently he’s bullet proof, so fat lot of good anything less than that’s gonna do to him.”  
  
“Not to mention those eye beams just flash-fried all the goons… and I don’t think a lot of us are much tougher…” Fiona murmured.  
  
“A plan of some sort would be good…” Bunnie murmured.  
  
“What do we do, Sonic?” Amy asked, leaning on her hammer.  
  
“That… is a really good question, Ames,” Sonic admitted.  
  
“What’s even happened to him?” Shard frowned, looking around his organic counterpart’s shoulder.  
  
“Looks like he’s gone Super, though how he did it without Emeralds, or why he’s gone berserk, I don’t know…” He shrugged.  
  
“I might have some sort of answer there…” Emerl replied, folding her arms. “When we tested my upper limits, Tails mentioned that… oh, what was it…”  
  
“The Emeralds are a focus, the power is always there,” Rotor finished.  
  
“Right! And… well, I sparred with him a little the night after I brought Fiona home, and a couple times since then. He’s… struggling to control his abilities. Looks like he managed to transform without a focus, and that mixed with his already-present struggles to create… this,” Emerl explained. “That’s a lot of negative Chaos… and that stuff’s hard to control even in best-case scenarios, let alone this one.”  
  
“Right… Okay then… So, how do we stop a rampaging Super form?” Sonic mused. “Fi, I hate to say this, but… Do you think you could…?”  
  
“No,” Fiona shook her head. “I’m sorry, but even if these things are strong enough… I don’t think I can go out there… It’s hard enough just hearing it… Sorry...”  
  
“It’s okay, Ember. You don’t need to apologise for that,” Nic squeezed her gently.  
  
“Emerl, could you take him on?” Shard asked.  
  
“Unlikely. He’s pretty much twice as powerful as I am right now,” She shook her head. “I could maybe stall him…”  
  
“Silver, could you hold him down?” Nic frowned.  
  
“It’ll work about as well as it did on Super Scourge, so… no,” The grey hedgehog shook his head.  
  
“Wait, how did you beat Super Scourge?” Fiona asked. “He didn’t say how it happened, he just got angry about it.”  
  
“I tricked him into turning back to normal, let the power drain finish him off…” Sonic replied.  
  
“Well, him reverting to normal would solve our problems by default… but I’m not sure if he’s in a listening mood…” Rotor grimaced.  
  
“I can try it… Talking to him, I mean,” Sonic bit his lip. “If that doesn’t work we’re just going to have to try and not get killed or injured while we burn him out of power…”  
  
“Okay then… how are we going to do that?” Nic asked.  
  
“You aren’t. You, Amy, and Fi, just get outta here and make sure there isn’t anybody still stuck in here. Bunnie, Rote, Emerl, Shard, Silver… I need you guys to try and hold Tails steady. I’m gonna try getting through to him…”  
  
“Alright, sounds like a plan…” Bunnie nodded.  
  
“Then let’s go, gang!”  
  
  
Sonic rushed out of the hiding spot, dodging past falling chunks of burning rafter, calling out to his friend.  
  
“Hey Tails!” He yelled. “Over here!”  
  
Tails whirled toward him, and seizing their chance, the two groups moved into place. Amy led Nic and Fiona toward the exploded-out wall, as Silver stepped forward, his whole body beginning to glow cyan, the symbols on his hands shining brightly.  
  
Just as Tails moved to lunge at Sonic, Silver reached out, grabbing the fox and dragging him down to the floor. Taken by surprise, he was helpless to stop himself from hitting the floor, growling as he aimed one hand at the psychic, only for the arm to be snagged by Emerl, who pulled it against her chest, dragging it aside and pointing it away from herself, and anybody else. She anchored herself to the floor once again, using all of her strength against just his arm.  
  
“No you don’t!” She shouted, drawing his attention. He raised his other hand, but Shard and Bunnie caught it, wrenching it away from the target.  
  
“This would be a lot easier with two hands…” Shard frowned.  
  
“Quit the bellyachin’ and just hold ‘im!” Bunnie replied.  
  
As Tails’ eyes flared up again, Rotor fired another chunk of nanites at him, locking over his eyes, knocking his head back as it formed into an opaque visor, the beams contained as the walrus flew around to his back, landing and grabbing hold of his twin tails, holding them down.  
  
“Sonic, you’re all clear!” Silver yelled, and the blue hedgehog nodded as he rushed up to the struggling fox.  
  
“Tails, listen to me!” He shouted, trying to be heard above the rumble of Tails’ aura. “You can stop now! The fight’s over, you won! Just… cool it off! It’s okay!”  
  
  
For a moment, Tails paused, his aura beginning to flicker. He gritted his teeth, lifting his head toward where Sonic stood.  
  
“**_S-Sonic… I… I can’t… S-sorry!_**” He choked out, before he screamed again, power exploding once more, throwing the whole group away from him and knocking Sonic off his feet. He tore the visor from his eyes, and whirled around, blasting Rotor’s armour square in the chest with another optic beam, destroying the suit. Bunnie caught the walrus before he could hit the ground, but Tails lunged at them, slamming his namesakes into them both, hammering them clear through the open wall.  
  
Silver tried to catch them, but he warped into the hedgehog’s path, kicking him square in the head. He crashed into a mangled slot machine, and slid to the ground, unconscious.  
  
Emerl charged toward him, the thruster on her sole going into overdrive as her optics returned to their burning red colour, her own aura roaring into life, launching her armoured foot straight into his cheek.  
  
Her leg stopped dead, and the fox didn’t so much as flinch.  
  
He grabbed her ankle, hurling her into Sonic as he recovered, knocking them both sprawling. He flew after them, crushing the ground beneath his feet as they rolled aside. Eyes turning toward Sonic, he prepared to unleash another eyebeam, just as Shard fired a huge blast from his cannon at the fox, wincing as he felt his gem burn inside his chest.  
  
Super Tails rounded on him, a beam of his own carving through Shard’s attack, launching up and grabbing the robot hedgehog by the neck. He tore the nanite covering from his torso, throwing it aside as he aimed the looming heat vision at the damaged gem.  
  
“Oh bolts...” The mechanical hedgehog yelped. “Uh, little help!?”  
  
“**Hold on, I thought of something!**” Emerl shouted, launching herself off the ground as her hands shifted, forming into her copies of Fiona’s prosthetics. She clamped them over his eyes as he opened fire, groaning in pain as the energy flowed into her, a whole lot more than she was prepared for, but she held firm.  
  
He dropped Shard, his tails stabbing into Emerl’s armour as he reached up, pulling her hands from his face, hauling her over his head and hurling to the ground, crashing into the metal hedgehog. He glared down, firing another storm of fire at them both, but the Gizoid recovered, crossing her arms over herself as she absorbed even more power, straining to hold it in.  
  
“**Sonic, Shard. Grab Silver, and get clear. This might be… explosive.**” She growled, sinking to one knee under the weight of the attack.  
  
“On it!” Sonic zipped over to scoop up his fallen ally, and then rushed out of the building, screeching to a halt outside, where Fiona was inspecting Rotor and Bunnie for injuries, while Amy and Nic took stock of everyone that had escaped from the casino. He set Silver down, stepping back as Fiona hurried over to check on him. Seconds later, Shard landed next to them.  
  
“What’s going on in there?” The vixen asked, glancing up at Sonic.  
  
“Emerl’s gonna try something explosive,” Shard replied. “Not sure what, though.”  
  
“I think I might have an idea…” Sonic mused. “Either way, I’m gonna rush back in there once it’s done.”  
  
“Well, just be careful…”  
  
***  
  
Inside, Emerl felt herself buckling under Tails’ sustained attack, but as it finally faded, she looked up to see him hunched over, panting. Was he finally running low? If so, she had a clear chance to finally finish the fight.  
  
[`**WARNING: ENERGY LEVELS CRITICAL**`]  
  
The text flashed across her vision, but she dismissed it. She wasn’t planning on holding onto the energy for much longer anyway, but if she couldn’t hurt him… maybe his own power _could_.  
  
`_[Back_thrusters: 100%.]  
[Foot_thrusters: 100%]  
[R.Elbow_thruster: 100%]  
[Fiona_Payback_arm: Engaged]  
[Sonic_Boost: Engaged]  
[Bunnie_strength_modifier: Engaged]  
[Mecha_Sonic_strength_modifier: Engaged]  
[Simian_strength_modifier: Engaged]  
[Mogul_strength_modifier: Engaged]_`  
  
“**Okay Tails… sorry about this, but it’s probably going to hurt me just as much as it hurts you...**” She announced, feeling her right arm straining, sparking with unstable power as she transferred all of the absorbed energy to it, the power she’d taken from him, and from Mogul, all engulfing her limb in a halo of red and white energies.  
  
Her engines fired, and she launched herself up. Her fingers closed into a fist, the nozzle of her elbow-thruster locking into place. She drew level with him, and the engine roared into life, as her arm drew back for a moment, before launching forward, crashing into his cheek as the energy exploded out of her fist, and she drove him into the ground, cratering the floor as she felt the recoil crack her own armour, the joints in her fingers mangled beyond functionality.  
  
But Tails lay still beneath her, his body still golden and glowing, but he seemed unconscious.  
  
Emerl’s shoulders sagged as her eyes faded back to blue, her aura extinguished. She’d done it. The hardest fight she’d had yet, but she’d won, by turning his power back on him. Kneeling beside him, her feeling her systems start to repair her arm, she let out a sigh, allowing herself a moment to rest.  
  
But as she pulled her fist away from his face, his eyes opened, still crimson spirals, and a blast of heat vision erupted from them, and Emerl’s already-damaged arm tore away from her shoulder. Pain, unlike anything she’d felt before, lanced through her body, and she screamed as his tails lashed out, carving across her face as she fell to the floor.  
  
He stood, clutching at his injured cheek for a moment, before letting out a roar. His body glowed completely scarlet, and he unleashed the charged-up Chaos Blast.  
  
  
Outside, Sonic had started to sprint toward the building when the eyebeams shot through the ruined roof and into the sky, but as he drew close, a shockwave threw him off of his feet, sending him skidding back toward the others.  
  
He looked up, just in time to see the whole casino collapse into itself, chunks blown out by the building crimson fireball, before the structure collapsed into the newly-formed crater.  
  
“Tails! Emerl!” He cried out, righting himself and dashing toward the wreckage, pulling any debris he could physically move away in an attempt to clear it. His ears swivelled, letting him know that some of the others had joined him, but he remained focused on his task.  
  
  
He needn’t have worried about Tails. As Sonic, Bunnie, Amy, Fiona, and Nic dug in, and Shard blasted a few of the larger pieces, the whole ruin shook, and a bolt of crimson exploded out from its centre, halting in the air above them.  
  
Super Tails glared down at the group, and dove toward them, Chaos sparking around his claws.  
  
“Scatter!” Sonic yelled, sprinting back, Amy and Shard joining him as Bunnie grabbed Fiona and Nic and did the same. The fox smashed down, crushing the ground beneath him into a pit without effort.  
  
“Now what do we do…?” Amy asked, as their maddened friend rose from the crater in a tower of Chaos fire..  
  
“Try not to get killed, basically!” Nic replied.  
  
“Basically that…” Sonic admitted. “I’m gonna try to reach him again, maybe now that he’s burned off more power it’ll work. You guys run.”  
  
“But you could get hurt, or worse!” The pink hedgehog protested.  
  
“I’ll be fine. Now go.”  
  
  
Not waiting for a response, Sonic boosted toward Tails, accelerating as the fox registered his approach and responded in kind, charging him. His claws lashed out, but the hedgehog dodged the swipe, barely. Any slower, even a microsecond, and he would’ve been hit.  
  
“Tails, snap outta this!” He yelled, leaping over an eyebeam, landing beside Tails. “You can’t let this negative stuff control you! You’re stronger than this!”  
  
His twin tails slashed at Sonic, who rolled under them and sprang back to his feet. But as he straightened, Tails leapt at him, grabbing him by the throat and ripping him away from the ground. He rammed Sonic through an upright piece of what had once been the casino’s wall, then another, scraping his back along the wreckage before arcing his flight upwards and hurling Sonic back to the ground.  
  
He landed hard, bouncing roughly as he struck the dirt, the wind knocked from him. He wheezed, forcing his aching limbs to push him upright, staggering to his feet. He wiped the blood from his chin as he stood unsteadily, ready to move the moment Super Tails attacked again.  
  
The golden fox lowered slowly toward him, but now his face looked pained, rather than angry.  
  
“Come on buddy… you don’t have to keep fighting…” He pleaded, apparently in vain as Tails’ hand raised, sparking with power as an orb built up in his palm. Shaking his head, the blue hedgehog took a step, ready to launch, but as he did, pain stabbed through his leg, and he collapsed to his knees.  
  
***  
  
In the depths of the rubble that was once Mogul’s casino, Emerl pushed a particularly large chunk of plaster off of herself, standing up in what little room she had. Times like this made her glad that she didn’t need to breathe.  
  
Her eyes shone green in the gloom, picking out everything in shades of the same, save for the red warning informing that her arm was still missing. With her power all but drained completely, she had no means of self-repair, so the severed limb remained severed. Likewise, she lacked the energy to teleport or blast her way free of the rubble.  
  
“_Κακή…_ How am I going to get out of this one...” She muttered to herself, pushing aside another lump of scrap, only for her low-light filter to be dazzled by a white glow from beneath it.  
  
***  
  
Far above Emerl’s head, Sonic struggled against his sprained leg to right himself, as Super Tails prepared to deliver the final blow. Before Tails could fire, however, two laser pulses struck him, and he whirled to see Bunnie and Shard taking aim at him, firing once again. Snarling, Tails redirected his own beam, intercepting the incoming lasers and swatting both from the sky, sending them crashing back to the ground.  
  
The attackers dealt with, he turned back toward Sonic, raising his palm again.  
  
  
“Come on, Sonic… get up…” Amy murmured, clenching her fists. Beside her, Fiona crouched, fighting the urge to cower behind her shields in the face of an all-too familiar scene. For a moment, the colour of their attacker faded from her eyes, and she could only see Miles’ grey Super form preparing to kill her along with the rest of the Destructix. She shook her head, blinking away the vision, refocusing on Super Tails.  
  
“Tails… stop this, please…”  
  
***  
  
Emerl shielded her optics with her one arm, toning down her filter. Even with the new light source, the small pocket of space within the rubble was still gloomy, so she didn’t turn it off completely.  
  
She wasn’t alone down here after all, because she now found herself standing over the wheezing form of Mammoth Mogul. The light had come from the Emerald, exposed after the damage they’d done to his suit.  
  
“I’m surprised you survived that…” She murmured. He looked up at her, eyes misty, expression confused, almost like he was struggling to remember her face. She guessed the slowly-healing burns in his forehead had something to do that.  
  
“Emerald…” He gasped, eyes widening as if the knowledge had just come to him. Her own eyes focused on the exposed stone in chest, zeroing in. “Healing me… keeping me alive… immortal…”  
  
“I see…” She replied, no longer really paying attention to the wounded mage. The digits of her remaining hand sharpened into claws as she stalked closer. Her optics hadn’t left the Emerald, locked onto it, laser-focused. All three of them. “Well… sorry about this… but I need that a whole lot more than you do.”  
  
  
She struck like a wild predator, her fingers plunging into his chest with surprising ease, tearing through skin and muscle. She ignored his scream, the sound barely audible compared to the load humming of power in her audio sensors. Stabbing deeper, the digits closed around her quarry, locking in place as she got a firm grip on the white gemstone. The Gizoid tore it free with one almighty flex, wrenching it out of his body with a faint grunt of exertion.  
  
Mogul went limp, his eyes misting over again, but she paid him no mind, stepping back as she stared into the glowing Emerald, her chestplate opening to expose the absorbed power of the other three, roiling within her.  
  
Everything went white.  
  
***  
  
When her vision cleared, she wasn’t under the rubble anymore. Instead, she stood in the middle of a street, black buildings lining either side of it, all of them on fire.  
  
“<Traitor!>” A voice bellowed at her in her own language, and she rolled to avoid the swipe of a sword much like her own, the twin blades made of fire. The figure holding the weapon- it wasn’t integrated into their arm like her own- looked a whole lot like herself, a clearly a Gizoid, but with red and orange plating, her crest having three prongs, the middle one bifurcated as the other two curved over her eyes. A stylised A was printed on her shoulder.  
  
The red Gizoid swung at her again, and she blocked instinctively with her own sword, almost instinctively whirling to block a strike from behind.  
  
Her second assailant looked a lot like the first, but the outer prongs of her crest curved upwards, and the central one was much shorter, though she had a large fin-shaped sagittal crest directly behind it. Her eyes shone yellow, and the blades of her weapon were much shorter, almost like semicircles, flowing like water. Her free hand folded behind her back, and she glared at him with imperious contempt.  
  
“<Stand down.>” She intoned calmly. “<Even you cannot beat us both.>”  
  
  
Emerl wanted to ask what was going on, but instead her response was far from curious.  
  
“**_<You have no idea what kind of trouble you are in.>_**” She growled, as a red aura engulfed her. For a moment, her optics flickered, and she saw her arms organic, covered in wild, golden fur and bloody scars, holding a weapon in each hand. A trio of spiralling scarlet beams erupted from her eyes, before the aura turned white, and she found herself blinded again.  
  
***  
  
As her vision returned, Emerl found herself back under the rubble, the Emerald gone from her hand, now at home within her chest. It closed up, her eyes turning white as a matching aura engulfed her. The vision had left her with questions, many of them, but for now they could wait. She had to save her friends.  
  
Power exploded through her body, restoring her lost energy, as her repair systems went into overdrive, reassembling her right arm. No armour casing yet, just exposed parts, but it would do.  
  
She grabbed Mogul and induced Chaos Control.  
  
***  
  
Outside, Sonic swallowed hard, staring up as Super Tails’ attack slowly built up. He couldn’t move, and none of the others could do anything more than distract him for a moment before he dismissed them and went back on the attack.  
  
“**Hey Tails, catch!**” Emerl’s voice cut through the air, and Sonic glanced up just in time to see Mogul’s limp form crash into the fox, the sudden weight knocking him off course, throwing his beam wide.  
  
Then, Sonic found himself seated back on the floor near the rest of his comrades, Emerl standing between them and the recovering Super Tails. Wreathed in white, her sword shining from her left arm, the right one exposed and skeletal.  
  
“**Sit tight… I’ve got this,**” She crouched, before spearing toward the fox.  
  
  
Her sword clashed against Tails’ namesakes, and for a moment, she held firm, before the fox’s strength overpowered her own, knocking her back. She backpedalled away from his follow-up slashes, launching herself over his head and swinging the blade down again, but he caught it in his palm, skin not breaking.  
  
He gripped the sword tightly, wrenching it aside to stagger the Gizoid, unleashing his heat vision once more. To the surprise of all parties but herself, however, Emerl responded in kind, spiralling beams burning out of her optics, clashing against Tails’ own. They quickly began to push hers back, but the beam from her third optic crested above the matched rays, striking him in the forehead.  
  
He stumbled back, knocked off-kilter by the beam. It didn’t seem to hurt him much, but he had felt _something_. Seizing her chance, The Gizoid launched forward, driving an uppercut into his jaw with her skeletal hand, staggering him. He released his grip on her sword, and she lashed at him with the blade again.  
  
Tails blocked the strike, bashing the sword aside before rushing forward, punching Emerl directly in the chest, knocking her clear off of her feet. Folding the blade away, she flipped over, landing in a crouch. She sprang back up, catching his hands before he could strike her. He pulled her arms wider, his tails stabbing at her again, eyes blasting heat rays once more.  
  
Emerl once again matched the beams, struggling to hold herself up against his strength, and the piercing strikes damaging her armour. This time, however Super Tails’ heat vision won out, the twin beams far wider than before, and he blasted her full in the face. One of his namesakes impaled her through the stomach, leaving her to crumple to her knees. He twisted, battering her with his tails and launching her away.  
  
Her engines ignited, stopping her fall, chestplate opening just as the Nova Cannon within locked into place and fired down at him. Tails growled, scarlet fire lancing from his eyes once more. His two beams met her single one, colliding with a thunderous explosion.  
  
Emerl dropped to the ground, planting her feet and bracing herself to withstand the recoil of her own weapon, and the pressure from his. She kept the cannon trained on her opponent, as he angled his own ray to keep matching her. He remained airborne, hovering. He began to push toward her, closing the gap between them one step at a time, and Emerl staggered back, trying to keep her footing as Tails drew nearer.  
  
Finally, Super Tails tensed, and his heat vision lanced through Emerl’s beam, bathing her in searing flames. Her aura extinguished, and she sank to her knees, collapsing face down into the dirt.  
  
  
The berserk fox grasped Emerl’s neck, lifting her up, but before he could make another move, Sonic surged forward, racing toward him, even on his injured leg. He fired off a boost, and curled up, spinning straight into his chest, the impact enough to knock the airborne fox over.  
  
Sonic landed awkwardly, but the adrenaline pushed him past the pain. He scooped up Emerl’s body, and dashed back toward the others.  
  
“Y-you hurt him…?” Emerl asked, eyes flickering.  
  
“Take it easy, Emerl…” Sonic replied, wincing. “And I don’t think I did. It did a lot more than what I was managing before, though… I think he’s running out of power…”  
  
“Well, he’s getting up.” She looked past his shoulder. By now, the hedgehog’s sprint had slowed to an awkward limp. He glanced back, watching Super Tails pick himself up. He struck the ground with his fist, growling as he rose to his feet. He flexed his body, tensing as if he were still transforming, screaming in pain.  
  
“What’s that stuff doing to him…?” Sonic murmured.  
  
  
Nearby, Fiona stood, rooted to the spot. Once again, her mind replayed events now past as Tails’ situation stirred her memories, and for a moment, she was back in the lab, watching him struggle with the power, trying to keep it contained… He’d almost transformed then, and now he actually had turned… And the only thing that stopped him back in the lab had been… her.  
  
Well, technically he stopped himself, but she had been the trigger.  
  
None of the others stood a chance, that much was obvious. Without a transformation of his own, Sonic was helpless, and barely able to stand anymore. Emerl only had half the power Tails now possessed, and the rest of them weren’t even close.  
  
But maybe… just maybe… she could pull a repeat of the incident in the lab.  
  
If it didn’t work, she would almost certainly be killed. If it was rage driving him, well, she’d given him plenty of cause for that. But… if she didn’t try… none of the others would survive. Sonic couldn’t snap him out of it. Emerl couldn’t defeat him, and nor could the combined power of the rest of the group.  
  
Whatever it was that stopped him from losing control when he saw her, it was their only shot.  
  
Given how the battle had transpired so far, she wagered that there were only seconds remaining before he lost control and went on the attack again. Her window would be vanishingly small.  
  
  
Taking a deep breath, the vixen took a step forward, then another. Her hands balled into fists, her jaw set, brow furrowed as she began to stride toward Super Tails.  
  
“Fi, what are you doing!” Nic yelled, panic plain for all to hear. Fiona swallowed hard, looking back over her shoulder at her oldest friend.  
  
“I’m stopping this, Nic… I can do it,” She replied, her voice soft and quiet as she passed the stunned Sonic and Emerl. “Don’t try and stop me.”  
  
“Fiona, wait!” The Gizoid yelped, but she shook her head, punching her fists together before throwing the small pulse of force forward, stirring up the wind to blast weakly in his face.  
  
  
“Tails!” She called out, and he stopped, freezing up. For a moment, he stared at her, growling painfully as he took a heavy step toward her.  
  
“**_F-Fiona… run…_**” He wheezed, before lunging straight at her.  
  
  
The vixen yelped, falling back and covering her face with her arms again. She heard Nic scream behind her, Bunnie panicking, Sonic and Emerl both yelling at her to dodge, and the roar of the incoming Super form… but no attack ever hit her.  
  
Her ear twitched, hearing the flickering of his aura right in front of her face, and she opened one eye to see him frozen, claws inches from striking at her. His face contorted in a mixture of fear, guilt, and the agony of restraining the sheer power coursing through him, and for the first time, his eyes had lost the maddened spirals, now a comparatively normal red iris and black pupil.  
  
“**_I-I’m sorry…_**” He murmured, unmoving, as Fiona pushed herself up, managing a faint smile to herself as she suddenly threw her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug.  
  
“It’s okay… it’s okay…” She replied, wincing as the energy flowing through his body bit into her skin, the sparking ripples of Chaos shocking her as she clung on. For a few moments, they held in place, before finally, his aura extinguished, his fur returning to its natural orange-yellow,and he collapsed fully into her grip, returning the hug nervously. “You’re okay…”  
  
Both sank to their knees, and she felt Tails’ shoulders shake, and a dampness on her shoulder.


	6. Reconciliation and Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle is over, but emotions are still high, and Tails has a lot on his mind right now.

** Sonic: Revival- Immortal  
**

**Chapter 6 of 6: Reconciliation and Separation**  
  
  
As the adrenaline rush wore off for most of the Freedom Fighters, Nic began to run toward Fiona, the younger girl’s name already on the tip of her tongue, only to be stopped as Emerl’s skeletal right arm crossed her path.  
  
“Hold on. They need a moment,” She said, softly. The wolf-weasel growled quietly, but sighed, stepping back.  
  
“Fine.”  
  
“What happened in there, anyway? Under the rubble, I mean?” Sonic asked, approaching the pair of them.  
  
“Mogul was regenerating from the damage Tails did to him, but Tails _really_ did a number on him. Said the Emerald was fuelling it, but…”  
  
“Couldn’t help but notice that your eyes were glowing white when you showed up again. Like they were a different colour blue on the Death Egg, and purple in Mobotropolis,” Sonic raised an eyebrow, giving her a knowing look.  
  
“Yes, I took the Emerald,” She nodded, as another layer of plating reformed along the new limb. “I was more worried about trying to help you than I was about the supervillain that caused all of this being okay in the long run.”  
  
“Hey, not blaming you,” Sonic raised his hands. “He was gonna be real difficult to contain anyway, and I really didn’t like the idea of putting both him and Geoff in the same cell block.”  
  
  
“There’s a chance he’ll recover anyway, even without the Emerald. He seemed to still be mostly immortal in the future…” Silver mused.  
  
“You knew him in the future?” Shard asked. “Was he this bad there too?”  
  
“More like enigmatic…” The hedgehog replied. “He seemed genuine in his desire to fix the world, but… well, given how bad it is there, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t still a bad guy. He helped me master some of my powers, taught me how to use Chronos Control, but… apparently he also put the mark on my head that let this time period’s Mogul control me, and had some sort of plan for me and his past self that required the use of said mark to keep me in line. So… probably still a bad guy.”  
  
“Do you know what that plan was?” Rotor asked.  
  
“No. He had it written down, but I didn’t think to grab it when I swiped the Time Stone he had,” Silver sighed. “It’s probably been destroyed by now, and even if it hasn’t, finding it could take days.”  
  
“We’ll have to take you to Tails’ uncle to get that mark removed, but… I’m not sure where we’ll find him,” Sonic frowned.  
  
  
“Right here, actually…” An older voice sounded from nearby, as a hooded fox approached the party. “I couldn’t help but notice the clash between my nephew and Mogul, and I came to lend whatever assistance I could, but… it seems the crisis has already abated, thanks to the efforts of Miss Fox…”  
  
“Merlin? Good to see you again, I guess,” Sonic smiled slightly. “Hey, let me introduce the new people…”  
  
  
***  
  
Nearby, Fiona and Tails still held onto each other, until, finally, the vixen felt her friend’s grip relax, and did so as well. As they separated, she winced slightly, and stood up.  
  
“Sorry, knees hurting,” She smiled slightly, an attempt to lighten the mood. Tails said nothing, wiping his eyes before rising to meet her. She hadn’t noticed until now, but he’d gotten taller in the time she was gone, almost up to her own height. “Are you alright?”  
  
“I should be asking you that…” He mumbled, kicking one foot, still not making eye-contact with her, eyes downcast.  
  
“I’m fine, just a little rattled,” She replied, face falling. She was _more_ than that, but he didn’t need to know that… It wouldn’t help any. In truth, her plan had been a gamble, and when he rushed her, for a moment she was convinced that she’d lost that particular coin toss. “You?”  
  
“All things considered… physically, I feel great. Better than I have in ages, thanks to the wonders of Super forms… But… I shouldn’t have let that happen,” He frowned. “You could’ve been hurt…”  
  
“But I wasn’t,” She pointed out, managing a smile again.  
  
“I could’ve killed you. If I didn’t manage to rein it in, you’d have taken the full force of that attack…” He murmured, arms wrapping around himself.  
  
“What… exactly was that, out of interest?” Fiona asked. “It looked like a Super form, but… wilder. And the spiral eyes were weird…”  
  
“It _was_ a Super form. That’s why my body has healed itself. Transformation is a full-heal once it ends for us… But it was an unstable one, brought on by stress. I lost control of it,” He explained.  
  
“Stress-induced Super modes are a thing?” Fiona balked. She’d never seen one before, as far as she knew. She’d seen Sonic and Shadow transform alongside Tails before, she’d seen Knuckles wield similar power when possessed by Enerjak, and she’d seen Miles using his Turbo and Super forms in quick succession, but they’d never been like what she’d just witnessed.  
  
“Yes, and they’re very dangerous, as I just ended up demonstrating… Not least helped by my recent condition…” He admitted, quietly.  
  
“Condition…? Are you sick?” She asked, eyes widening. “What’s wrong, do the others know?”  
  
  
Tails laughed slightly, bitterly, shaking his head.  
  
“No, I’m not sick. But my powers aren’t working right, mainly from a lack of use,” The fox replied.   
  
“You still fly a lot,” Fiona pointed out, frowning. Those were connected, right?  
  
“Yes, and that hasn’t been mentally taxing since I was four and a half, or physically taxing since I was eight. It’s not exercise anymore, it’s second nature,” He shrugged.  
  
“Exercise?”  
  
  
“That’s a good word for it, actually. Chaos power is like a muscle,” He flexed his arm to emphasise his point, and Fiona couldn’t help but notice how well-toned he was for a Mobian of his size and age. “You keep using it, and use it properly, and it’ll keep getting stronger… but if you stop… Well, you should know what happens if you stop.”  
  
“Uh…” Fiona blinked, refocusing on his eyes as the arm dropped. “Right, they get weaker.”  
  
“Exactly. But unlike a muscle, if untended, it becomes… unstable. I’ve been trying to use my powers more and more lately, mainly at Emerl’s prompting, but… with all the things that have been happening, Sally getting roboticized, Bunnie losing her cyborg parts, Antoine being hurt, Nicole getting exiled… the things Naugus and Eggman managed to pull off… what happened to you… It pushed me toward the negative, and that’s the hardest aspect to control, even when you _are_ well trained…”  
  
“I see… So why weren’t you using them much?”  
  
“Well, partially because I was distracted with… everything, and partially because I… I kinda didn’t want to,” He admitted, shrugging slightly. “All the ‘Chosen One’ stuff, I never wanted that. It just got me attacked and kidnapped and used as a battery by Mogul and ADAM, and for not a lot of gain… I was prepared to deal with it when I thought that maybe the ‘Great Harmony’ would mean the end of all these wars and battles and the villains that have been causing us so much trouble… But it didn’t. All it did was send the Chaos Emeralds to the Special Zone, and that’s it. If anything, it just made it harder for Sonic to access his Super form, and nothing else changed for the better. Eggman kept going, Mogul bounced back, Naugus got better, Scourge…”  
  
“Yeah…” Fiona mumbled, clutching her own arm, the sore spot where flesh and metal joined. “Sorry about that…”  
  
“I’m sorry too…” He replied. “For scaring you… For setting off your trauma… For not being able to save you from Scourge… for… well, for a lot of stuff, I guess…”  
  
  
Fiona balked as she heard him speak. Why was _he_ apologising to _her?_ That seemed completely the wrong way around to her. She was about to cut him off and ask why, when the words registered.  
  
  
‘_I’m sorry. For leaving you behind back in Knothole, for not saving you faster, for getting carried away with our act in the prison, for... **well, for a lot of stuff.**_’  
  
  
“Tails…” She reached forward, gripping his shoulders as she felt her eyes stinging. “Tails, you can’t blame yourself for that… none of that’s your fault…”  
  
“Yes it is, Fiona! All the time you were with him, I could’ve done _something_ to help, to stop him, to keep you safe, but I just let it happen! I… I thought you were _happy._ And that, even if he made you into a bad person, if you were against us, if you and I were enemies, that as long as you were happy… I was okay with that…” He exclaimed, the dam evidently broken now. “But… He was hurting you. He could’ve killed you… and I did nothing to stop it… And then when you came home, all I did was strike those nerves and terrify you!”  
  
“Tails!” She shook him gently. “I appreciate the sentiment, but there’s no way I would’ve let you separate me from him… The old me wouldn’t have accepted it...”  
  
“That wouldn’t have stopped me, Fiona…” He looked up at her, fixing her with a steely gaze, a faint hint of that searing scarlet glow in his eyes. “If it meant saving you, I would’ve let you hate me for the rest of both our lives. It wouldn’t matter what you thought of me, as long as you were okay. That’s all I wanted, all I’ve _ever_ wanted… for you to be safe and happy…”  
  
Fiona stared at him for a moment. She new all too well how much he wanted to be with her, back then. How hurt he’d been whenever that became less and less likely. For him to tell her that he’d gladly let her hate him, if it meant she got to live the life she wanted...  
  
“Do… do you mean that?” She asked. He sounded sincere, but so did _he._ She couldn’t be sure anymore. “Even after everything I did to hurt you?”  
  
“Fiona… I forgave you for that years ago. Sure, it hurt back then, but… I never lost faith in you. I couldn’t ever lose that…” He replied, stopping short as Fiona pulled him into a hug, holding him tightly. She felt him flinch, before wrapping his own arms around her, and they leaned into each other’s shoulders.  
  
  
“Tails… I won’t deny that the all the beams and Chaos stuff flying around, it’s been hard for me. Not just from you, but with Sonic and Emerl too… Sometimes… sometimes Sonic’s _voice_ spooks me. But, somehow...” Fiona paused, taking a breath and biting her lip for a moment. “Somehow, I… I _knew_ you wouldn’t hurt me.”  
  
She felt him freeze up again, and smiled knowingly.  
  
“I could’ve…”  
  
“But you didn’t. Even with all of that power… power that you say you can’t control, you still managed to stop yourself. Right?” She pushed, and after a moment, she felt him relax, the tension in his shoulders finally abating.  
  
“I… I guess I did,” He admitted.  
  
“See… You’re going to be okay. _We’re_ going to be okay,” She smiled, glancing over at the rest of the group. “Come on, the others are waiting. Looks like your uncle’s turned up, and Nic looks about ready to explode so I guess she’s still worried…”  
  
The two foxes parted, and walked over to the rest of the group. As Tails moved over to greet his uncle, Fiona found herself all but tackled by Nic, who pulled her into a spine-breaking hug.  
  
“Don’t ever scare me like that again!” The hybrid almost shouted, holding her tightly. Too tightly.  
  
“_Can’t-! Breathe!_” Fiona wheezed, prompting her to release her hold.  
  
“Sorry, I just… Gods, Fi… I thought you were gonna get yourself killed!” Nic blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears from her eyes.  
  
“I… I was confident,” She replied, smiling faintly. Her grin grew as Nic gave her a confused look. “I’ll tell you later.”  
  
“Okay… I think the old guy wants to talk to us, by the way,” Nic shrugged, releasing her. “But seriously… don’t do that again.”  
  
“Alright, I won’t. Hopefully I won’t have to,” Fiona sighed, as Nic walked past her. As she did, the vixen felt a nudge, and turned to see Bunnie smirking at her, folding her arms. “What?”  
  
Bunnie said nothing, just pointing to her ears with one hand. Fiona felt heat rising within her, and turned away, laughing nervously. “I don’t know what you’re saying, Bunnie. Not a clue.”  
  
“Sure thing, Fi. Sure thing,” Came the sarcastic response.  
  
Fiona sighed, and followed Nic. As much as Bunnie wasn’t _technically_ wrong… it was still far too early to think about anything like that. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t know if she ever _would_ be ready.  
  
  
If Merlin Prower had anything judgemental to say about her, he kept it to himself. Instead, he calmly greeted her and Nic, and explained what he wanted to talk to them about.  
  
“I’d like to check both of you to see if Mogul left any more of his marks. I’ve already erased the one placed on Silver, and I can do the same for you as well,” He said, leaning against his staff.  
  
“Sure thing,” Nic shrugged. “Last thing I want is that guy in my head again.”  
  
“Yeah, for definite,” Fiona agreed.  
  
“Very well…” Merlin closed his eyes, raising his free hand as it began to glow green. The glow enveloped both girls. As the energy flickered around them, Fiona felt an uncomfortable twinge in her forehead, rubbing at it in an effort to soothe the building headache.  
  
“Ugh, I need an aspirin,” She grumbled, glancing over at Nic, who was staring at her head with a familiar mixture of concern and anger in her eyes. “What?”  
  
“He… he got you. But he didn’t get me…” She murmured. “Why?”  
  
“I… I don’t know…” Fiona mumbled back, looking away. Her eyes found Tails’, the younger fox’s brow furrowing, before he quickly looked away.  
  
“Well, fortunately, it’s a simple fix,” Merlin gave her reassuring smile, before pressing his thumb against the mark. His eyes flashed, and Fiona felt the ache abating as the glow faded. “As for why, it’s probable that Mogul chose one of you so that he could use her to manipulate the other. He likes doing things like that. And if he recognised the connection between the pair of you… he’d likely choose Fiona.”  
  
“I suppose that makes sense…” Nic shrugged.  
  
“Yeah. Thanks for getting rid of it, anyway,” Fiona nodded.  
  
“You’re welcome,” He smiled. “Happy to help.”  
  
  
“Well… thanks for the save, and sorry again for screwing up your plan,” Silver spoke up. He approached the group, holding the purple Time Stone. “But I really need to be getting home.”  
  
“No problem, Silver,” Sonic grinned.  
  
“Will we ever see you again?” Shard asked, approaching the grey hedgehog.  
  
“I… it’s unlikely,” He admitted. “If the future has been saved… then, well…”  
  
“Yeah, mission accomplished,” The robot sighed. “I’ll miss you, buddy.”  
  
“If Edmund will allow it, I’ll come back and visit at some point. I’m not sure if it’ll be okay to use Time Stones like that, though.”  
  
“We can only hope,” Shard grinned. “Anyway, I guess I’d better stand back?”  
  
  
“Yeah, probably.”  
  
“Good luck, Silver,” Amy smiled. “And thank you for all of your help.”  
  
  
But, as Silver closed his eyes and raised the stone, it gave a brilliant flash of purple, and slammed the hedgehog into the ground. The Time Stone rolled away from his grip, and as the assembled Freedom Fighters watched, the rock turned dull and grey.  
  
“Again!?” Silver cried out as he spotted the lifeless artefact. “What’s wrong with it!?”  
  
“If I might volunteer a suggestion…” Tails spoke up from the rear of the party, walking forward with a grave look on his face. “When I heard about this, I began to run through a few theories, a few ideas, as to what might be the cause of this. Why have two of the Time Stones become inert when you tried to use them to go home? Well… I think I might have an answer… And I’m not sure if you’ll like it.”  
  
“I’m willing to hear anything at this point…” He stated, morosely.  
  
“Silver… you came back here to change your past, our present. To avert the chain of events that led up to your future, right?” Tails began, prompting the stranded time-traveller to nod in response. “Well, you succeeded.”  
  
“Right, I did…” He agreed, trying to prompt a further explanation.  
  
“Well… You averted it. You averted your own future. You stopped it from happening. You can’t use the Time Stones to return to your future because your future _doesn’t exist anymore._ It’s gone.”  
  
“But… I’m still here! If I erased my own timeline, how come I haven’t erased myself?!” Silver demanded.  
  
“A good question. It’s one of the classic examples of a paradox, isn’t it? In time-travelling back to fix the past, the time-traveller erases their own reason for returning to the past, and thus stops themselves from time-travelling in the first place, but because of that their critical role in changing the past is absent and thus the timeline returns to its original state, giving the time traveller reason to make their trip. It’s an endless recursive loop of logic, and in that sense you and your future should both be flickering in and out of reality, along with warping the present around you,” Tails went on.  
  
“Yeah, so why am I still here? If I’m here, why isn’t my home?” Silver pressed.  
  
“I’m not sure. I’m not a quantum physicist myself, but if I had to guess, given the entirely theoretical and changeable nature of quantum mechanics, it’s possible that the universe is preserving itself by… well, _looking the other way_. As long as you don’t do anything to aggravate your position in this reality, you’ll be fine, but if you keep picking at it, you may become an open wound in the fabric of time itself.”  
  
“So… what can I do?”  
  
“I’m not sure. But what you can’t do is keep using the Time Stones,” He crouched, picking up the formerly-purple rock. “I’m willing to bet that attempting to use it to jump into a timeline that doesn’t exist anymore has, in effect, killed it. And breaking any of the other five by repeating the attempt could create just such a time wound. You’re gonna have to sit tight until I can analyse it a little more.”  
  
“I… okay, fine,” Silver grumbled. “How long will that take?”  
  
“It… might be a while…” Tails admitted, sighing as he turned toward the others. “Guys… I’m… I’m going to train with Uncle Merlin, for a while. It… it won’t be long for you. He’s told me he can do some sort of time-dilation thing to give me longer to work with, while less time passes for you, but… I need to get this under control, and just working in small increments isn’t working.”  
  
“Oh,” Sonic stopped. “Buddy, are you…”  
  
“I’m fine. I’m sorry Sonic, I should’ve told you more, I… I just didn’t have the time. With everything that’s been happening lately I’ve been a little busy. But if I don’t get this power mastered, people are going to keep getting hurt, and I can’t let that continue,” Tails sighed.  
  
“How long is it going to be?” Emerl asked. She’d been quiet since the battle ended, standing off to the side as her arm repaired itself.  
  
“Depending on how long Tails decides to take… it could be a week. It could be two. Could be a month. But that’s all I’ll give him,” Merlin replied. “Any more than that could be… hazardous.”  
  
“What do you mean, hazardous?” Bunnie asked, frowning.  
  
“I mean, it could have an impact on his psyche if he keeps training alone for that long,” The fox mage clarified. “Fortunately, in smaller doses, it’s pretty safe. I’ve used it myself.”  
  
“Well, as long as you’re careful,” Sonic sighed. “I mean, it’s his decision, right?”  
  
“Right,” Tails nodded. “I’m doing this to make sure something like today can’t happen again. I’ll come back and let everybody at home know, before we leave, but then, I’ll be away for a while.”  
  
“Well… good luck, I guess.”  
  
***  
  
A few days later, in Mobotropolis, Sonic, Sally, and the freshly-crowned Elias joined Dr. Quack in the medical wing of the prison, where Mogul’s inert form rested awkwardly in a cell.  
  
“So… what’s wrong with him?” Elias asked. “He’s been catatonic ever since he was brought back here.”  
  
“His heart and brain sustained significant damage from his fight with Mr. Prower’s berserk Super form. His chest was pierced by a kind of thin but incredibly powerful Chaos beam of sorts, and his brain with some kind of superheated ray. Put simply, it’s a miracle that he’s alive at all…” The duck explained.  
  
“Tails called the first one a “Chaos Lance”, for the record,” Sonic added.  
  
“So how _did_ he survive?”  
  
“He’s immortal. Or at least, he was.”  
  
“Powered by the Chaos Emerald, yes,” Sally nodded. “I take it Emerl removed the Emerald before it could finish healing the damage?”  
  
“Yeah. Said she needed it to try and keep the rest of us safe. Can’t say I blame her,” Sonic confirmed. “So, what happens to him now?”  
  
“It’s possible that he will eventually recover, just more slowly, based on the amount of energy he absorbed from the Emerald while he still had it,” Quack replied. “He’d healed just enough to not die when the Emerald was removed, but no more than that, so it will take a long while before he’s even functioning.”  
  
“Well… I guess we kept Naugus here when he was in a similar state…” Elias folded his arms. “Ensure that he gets satisfactory care, but keep him in the prison. Given what St. John’s told us, and the actions he took once you made your move, we’ve got more than enough to keep him here until he’s fit to stand trial.”  
  
“Works for me,” Sonic shrugged.  
  
“I suppose so, yes…” Sally agreed.  
  
  
As they left the room, however, none of them heard the near-lifeless mammoth speaking, inaudibly, under his breath, as his glazed eyes stared up at the ceiling.  
  
“_Beware the Ashen King. Beware the Ashen King. Beware the Ashen King. Beware the Ashen King. Beware the Ashen King._”  
  
***  
  
_In the heart of the multiverse, a chain of amethyst shattered, shards of time falling into the void alongside its formerly-golden counterpart. The Paradox Lock groaned and screeched, as the thing within it strained against the gears of the mechanisms of its prison.  
  
“**Just five more…**” Hissed the sybillant voice of the Ashen King._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have the end of Immortal. 
> 
> No prizes for guessing who the Ashen King is at this point.

**Author's Note:**

> Well that's a little ominous.
> 
> This arc might come across as a little awkward in the opening stages, due to Mogul's retirement in-comic. I thought Ian's approach to Mogul was really darn clever, but it makes him really awkward to use as a villain, and by extension takes the grey Emerald off the board. So unfortunately I kinda had to throw that out.


End file.
